April 21, 2023 | Passenger

Ties on I-90 Bridge Must Be Rebuilt for Sound Transit Service

Written by Kyra Senese, Managing Editor



Sound Transit

Crews have been working in the former express lanes of Interstate 90 for a couple of years now, attempting to repair faulty track supports along Sound Transit's future light-rail extension.

Workers have changed tactics after multiple attempts to adjust and fix these pieces, a local news report said. Contractors will now rebuild the nearly 5,500 concrete blocks known as plinths, potentially putting Sound Transit’s goal of starting train service across Lake Washington in the spring of 2025 in jeopardy. Long stretches of the deck have been stripped to bare pavement, and tents have been put in place to protect the new components from the elements.

The Kiewit-Hoffman joint venture’s second effort covers a four-mile area of Seattle and Mercer Island on decks where freeway structures run above ground.

According to Sound Transit, the contractor team decided in late September, following mortar failures and a forensic investigation, that the best option is to start over. Deputy CEO Kimberly Farley said more than half of the plinths were demolished and some rebuilding began last fall.

After plinth issues thwarted attempts to complete the entire Eastside corridor, also known as the 2 Line, by mid-2023 and then by spring 2024, Sound Transit set a grand opening date of 2025.

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