New northbound I-5 HOV lane between DuPont and Lakewood opens Sunday, July 11
Doug Adamson, communications, 360-357-2716
Lane helps relieve chronic traffic congestion, encourages carpooling
LAKEWOOD – In a major construction milestone, a new 4.5 mile-long northbound HOV lane between DuPont and Lakewood will open on Interstate 5 on Sunday, July 11.
“High occupancy vehicle lanes maximize the movement of people and improve trip reliability, especially for those who share the ride,” said Washington State Department of Transportation Regional Administrator John Wynands. “Ultimately these improvements will benefit everyone using the corridor.”
HOV lanes – or carpool lanes – also help transit keep reliable schedules and provide a less-congested lane for first responders.
The new southbound I-5 HOV lane will open in early August.
The work is part of the I-5 - Steilacoom-DuPont Rd. to Thorne Lane - Corridor Improvements project. Crews rebuilt two interchanges to improve traffic flow between Lakewood, JBLM, Camp Murray, Tillicum and I-5. The new interchanges also removed a potential conflict between passenger trains and vehicles, and people who walk or roll.
The project is anticipated to finish later this year.
Future plans WSDOT proposes to complete work on I-5 that will extend the HOV lane in both directions into the DuPont area during 2023. WSDOT’s overarching goal is to complete the HOV system between DuPont and the new HOV lanes that are nearly complete in Tacoma.
