Second Street Bridge expansion

Construction work on the new Second Street Bridge in Mount Vernon is above ground now. People can visually see the bridge going up and they are starting to speculate whether or not the new bridge was designed to accommodate a wider Interstate-5.
WSDOT specifically designed the new bridge over I-5 to accommodate up to eight lanes. Currently, there is no funding available to widen I-5 in Skagit County.

When funding is available in the future, we will widen I-5 (near the Second Street Bridge) to the east of the existing northbound lanes. We are unable to widen I-5 to the west because BNSF railroad runs parallel to I-5 at the Second Street Bridge.

When the widening happens (sometime in the future) the existing northbound and southbound lanes would be joined together to become the southbound lanes and the new northbound lanes would be built east of the pier that is adjacent to the northbound shoulder.

For more project information, visit www. wsdot.wa.gov/projects/i5_2ndst_bridgerepl/.

Dustin Terpening, WSDOT Communication

Letters to the Editor - Skagit Valley Herald