Work to improve safety on State Route 18 on Tiger Mountain starts Friday night, Nov. 4, with the first of four overnight directional closures on the highway that links Interstate 90 and Auburn.
Contractor crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation will close one direction of the highway Friday and Saturday nights, Nov. 4-5, and Nov. 11-12, alternating the closures each evening. The nightly closures will be between I-90 and Issaquah-Hobart Road.
The crews will install glare screen blades on top of the concrete barrier separating eastbound and westbound traffic. They will also install additional reflective safety markings on the side of the concrete barrier.
Closure details
The SR 18 directional overnight closures will be nightly from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.:
• Friday, Nov. 4, to the morning of Saturday, Nov. 5 – Westbound from Issaquah-Hobart Road to I-90.
• Saturday, Nov. 5, to the morning of Sunday, Nov. 6 – Eastbound from I-90 to Issaquah-Hobart Road.
• Friday, Nov. 11, to the morning of Saturday, Nov. 12 – Westbound from Issaquah-Hobart Road to I-90.
• Saturday, Nov. 12, to the morning of Sunday, Nov. 13 – Eastbound from I-90 to Issaquah-Hobart Road.
“This section of highway is remote and very dark at night. Installing glare screens will block the glare of headlights of vehicles traveling in the opposite direction, and the new reflective markers on the barrier will help guide drivers,” said WSDOT Project Engineer Mike Askarian.
This work is part of a larger safety project that includes installing guardrail on I-90 near the Southeast 82nd Street interchange and on I-5 in SeaTac. The guardrail work was completed last summer.