Written by Here is an informative reminder about the upcoming Rainier Avenue closure, from Today’s PI:
Main Renton thoroughfare to close just as drivers search for an I-5 reprieve
By LARRY LANGE
Just as the state prepares to divert thousands of motorists around Interstate 5 construction, another transportation project that could complicate things further is under way.
A three-block section of Rainier Avenue in downtown Renton will close Saturday through Wednesday so a railroad bridge can be removed from above the avenue, a major north-south arterial.
Traffic will be diverted onto two parallel streets, Hardie and Shattuck avenues, while Rainier is closed, city officials announced. Another Burlington Northern Santa Fe bridge across Shattuck already was removed and the road widened. Rainier also will be widened once the bridge is replaced. Shattuck Avenue was closed Aug. 1 for removal of its bridge but will reopen as a detour while Rainier is closed, then shut again for four months Aug. 16, after Rainier reopens.
Once the Rainier closure ends, Hardie Avenue also will be inaccessible for five days, from Aug. 16 to 20, while a railroad bridge above it is removed. It’s part of the railroad’s plan to replace those bridges and a fourth one over the Cedar River, where street closures aren’t planned.
All this is happening at the same time the state will close lanes on I-5 between Spokane Street and Interstate 90 in Seattle, sending thousands of motorists scurrying for alternative routes. Some could end up in Renton, possibly using Rainier as a northerly bypass to I-5.
Will this complicate things? “A little bit,” Renton city spokeswoman Preeti Shridhar said. “But with the particular part of Rainier that’s going to close, and also with local access (provided), we hope not.”
A state Department of Transportation consultant, Paul Johnson, said that although “it would probably be better if it didn’t happen,” the state believes the Renton project “is not a huge impact to our project or even traffic that’s trying to avoid our traffic.”
The city has posted signs marking the detours and acting Public Works Administrator Peter Hahn said motorists will have to “make a little jog of it” on Shattuck or Hardie to get around the Rainier work.
“It’s not that you’re prevented from (driving north through downtown) but you are adding a certain length to that trip,” he said.
City officials said local businesses still will be accessible, though motorists will have to drive around the railroad work to get to businesses. Rebuilding the rail bridges will allow Renton to widen Rainier Avenue beginning next year and widen Shattuck Avenue, and also add sidewalks under the new rail crossing this year.
The timing, Hahn said, was based largely on the railroad’s insistence that the bridges be replaced and the rebuilt line reopen by the end of this year to help move fuselages and other parts to the Boeing plant.
Earlier dates were considered, Hahn said, but were avoided out of fear that closing Rainier then could have interfered with traffic to Renton’s River Days festival and Seattle’s Seafair celebration.
Improving the line south of the Boeing plant means it won’t need to be upgraded north of Renton, where the work could complicate the widening of Interstate 405, Hahn said.
Hahn said the city considered several options, including compressing the Rainier Avenue rail-trestle removal into a two-day, 24-hour weekend operation. City Council members rejected that idea, however, because demolishing the bulky support structure on Rainier would create too much noise at night.
The city and the railroad agreed to extend the work to five days but end the work at 10 p.m. each day.
P-I reporter Larry Lange can be reached at 206-448-8313 or larrylange@seattlepi.com.
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