Truckers brace for I-5 closure headaches

The 19 days of Interstate 5 construction set to begin Friday night will mean havoc for many Seattle drivers, among them the truckers who rely extensively on that highway as a main artery.

Trucking companies that haven't carefully considered their options and alternatives "will basically reap the reward of what (they) didn't do," said Pat Binion, co-chairman of the Seattle Department of Transportation's Freight Mobility Advisory Committee.

"It's gonna be ugly," predicted Rick Goetz, vice president of Seattle's Nelson Trucking Co.

At 10 p.m. Friday, crews from the state Department of Transportation will begin repairing northbound I-5, undertaking what the city's Transportation Department on its Web site calls "some of the most extensive lane and ramp closures Seattle drivers have ever seen."

Technically, crews will be replacing expansion joints and resurfacing northbound lanes between South Spokane Street and Interstate 90. In practical terms, they'll be creating one heck of a mess.

More drivers use the affected portion of I-5 than nearly any other section: an average of about 130,000 northbound vehicles daily.

Of those, about 1,000 are semitrailers and 3,700 are box trucks, according to the state Department of Transportation.

The trucking companies agreed that alternatives to I-5 likely will clog quickly, particularly on crucial routes to Harbor Island, the Port of Seattle's terminal facilities, Interstate 405, the I-90 bridge, state Route 99 and surface streets adjacent to I-5.

Binion, who is also transportation manager for Alaska Distributors Co., said his privately held Kent-based company, which specializes in overnight delivery of beer, wine and other beverages, has been preparing for the closures over the past several months.

It's asking customers to place orders for next-day deliveries one hour earlier than usual. Loading the trucks will begin one to two hours earlier than usual, as will dispatching the trucks, Binion said. Routes are being altered, to the extent possible, to avoid I-5, he said.

The company, which has 57 trucks and serves seven Northwest states, hasn't calculated how the repairs and workarounds will affect it financially. But Binion said he expects the fiscal effect of lost productivity and sitting in traffic will be "fairly significant."

V. Van Dyke Inc., a Seattle-based carrier with 16 trucks, has a different approach.

"We thought we'd try prayer and see how that works," said President Cliff Bates.

Actually, he said, his company, which hauls general freight as well as building materials to construction sites, will deal with the closures mainly by rescheduling jobs. The company also has asked drivers to work odd hours, which likely will add to payroll costs, he said. Jobs that normally take six hours may take 10, adding overtime charges.

Bates is pessimistic about alternative routes. Surface streets, including Airport Way, Beacon Avenue, First and Fourth Avenues, and state Route 99, "are going to plug up rather quickly," he said.

"There's not a whole lot of options. They all dump into the same place uptown, anyway, so what happens when you get there?"

A self-described student of traffic jams, Bates said he won't be surprised if cars and trucks back up all the way south to Federal Way.

"I think it's going to be a real problem, not like Y2K," he said, referring to unfounded fears that computers worldwide would malfunction on Jan. 1, 2000.

Giants such as UPS and FedEx say they're prepared.

UPS "has been working on plans for several weeks," spokesman Dan Mackin said.

That includes visits by salespeople to discuss the situation with customers, setting earlier drop-off deadlines and even hiring contractors to fly packages in small planes north past the repairs to the site where planes are loaded

FedEx estimates three of its so-called express locations -- basically package terminals -- will be affected by the repairs. It's offering customers alternatives to deliveries, such as holding packages to be picked up, spokeswoman Sally Davenport said.

More than 17,000 drivers daily use the I-5 northbound exit to the West Seattle Bridge and Spokane Street, the state's department of transportation said. More than 19,000 drivers daily use the northbound I-5 exit to I-90.

A LOT OF TRUCKS, NOT MANY LANES

1,000 semitrailers and 3,700 box trucks use the affected portion of I-5 every day.

Source: Washington State Department of Transportation