A semi speeds by underneath the 13th Street overpass Tuesday morning in Chehalis.
By Celene Fitzgerald
cfitzgerald@chronline.com
The 13th Street Interstate 5 overpass in Chehalis will be closed until winter so that the damaged span of the northbound bridge can be replaced by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) after a vehicle with an oversized load hit it last year.
“Bridge crews examined the bridge and determined that when the over height load struck the bridge it caused significant structural damage to two of the girders. Due to the extent of the structural damage, it was determined that the entire northbound span must be replaced,” WSDOT stated on its website.
The bridge will be closed to traffic and pedestrians beginning at 10 a.m. on Oct. 5 and lasting through the duration of the bridge replacement — estimated to be completed by the end of 2020.
In addition to the bridge closure, all lanes of traffic heading north on I-5 will be closed from 8 p.m. on Oct. 5 until 5 a.m. on Oct. 6. Interstate traffic will be detoured off at Exit 76, said WSDOT Communications Consultant Celeste Dimichina.
Later this month there will be another full closure of the northbound I-5 lanes while crews install bridge girders — steel beams that make up the base of the bridge, Dimichina said.
In early October of 2019, the 13th Street Interstate 5 overpass was struck by a vehicle northbound with an over-height load and was damaged.
The incident in 2019 led Gov. Jay Inslee to declare a state of emergency based on the damage to expedite funding for repairs, according to past Chronicle reporting. In March of this year, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell’s office announced that the Federal Highway Administration will award $965,000 to the WSDOT to fix the 13th Street Interstate 5 overpass.
The 13th Street overpass was struck again in February of 2020 by a commercial vehicle.
The Chehalis overpass has been struck by vehicles numerous times in the past including in late 2013, mid-2004, 2002 on the southbound side and in 2000 — “causing a great deal of repair”, according to past Chronicle reporting.
The 13th Street overpass has clearance signs up that indicate a 14-foot 8-inch clearance and new bridges being built must have a clearance of 16 ½ feet, according to WSDOT’s website. Dimichina said that there are clearance signs up on all of the WSDOT’s bridges and bridge height information is also posted on their website for the freight community to check if the load they are hauling will clear the bridges.
“We don’t have a specific detour in place to go around the bridge closure but we do know that the locals know how to get around using other routes. Our hope is that we can get in and out of there quickly so that detour isn’t really impacting travelers that live in the area,” Dimichina said.
