Seattle's Ship Canal Bridge repairs near end

Right now it's just about 9.06 and we are approaching the end of the current phase of Revive I-5, which could mean we get closer to a regular traffic on the Ship Canal Bridge in just a couple of weeks. Sean Chitnis is live this morning with an update for us on the progress crews are making on this project. Sean, good morning. Hey, Erin, good morning. Well, we're a little farther away from the bridge so we don't hear the roar of traffic, but we can see some of the crews that are up there along this side of the bridge, of course, working on those northbound lanes. That's been the case for quite some time, but we have spent the morning driving along the bridge to see the progress and of course, the continued impact that it has on traffic with that work. We even flew our drone up earlier around the 7 a.m. hour to see how things were looking. And a watchdog has said that they are getting closer to switching back to that normal flow of traffic. They're hoping to reopen lanes headed north after next weekend. This would get the express lanes going back to normal operations as well. and end Revive I-5 work for the year. That hopefully will provide some relief for drivers who commute southbound in the mornings. We know that they've been dealing with backups that can go in that direction for miles. Right now, the express lanes are in the northbound direction at all times to make up for those closed lanes on the Ship Canal Bridge, which has been the case for 10 months now. To make that switch, though, they'll have to close northbound I-5 from I-90 all the way to northeast 45th Street all next weekend. This lets them reconfigure lanes, pick up end barriers, and restripe the lanes and shoulders. All of this depends on the weather, of course, which could delay the switch and finishing this phase of the project. WSDOT says this is all needed to preserve the Ship Canal Bridge, which is 60 years old and has not seen maintenance like this in 40 years. So what they hope to do then is come back in early 2027, work on the southbound side, and then be finished with the entire project by the end of next year. Live in Seattle, Sean Chitnis, Fox 13 News.