PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) – The I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project was completed more than a week ahead of schedule, according to Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) officials. ODOT made the announcement during a news conference Wednesday. According to officials, crews only need to re-mark the southbound lanes, then the interstate will be open to traffic again. Repainting work is scheduled to begin Wednesday night. The reopening will begin at 10 pm on Wednesday. Officials say it will take approximately 24 hours to fully reopen I-5. The lanes are expected to begin reopening to traffic sometime around noon on Thursday, Oct. 8, ODOT said. During this time, some lanes and on-ramps will remain closed while crews collect all equipment and re-strip the interstate. There will be short-term closures of the Broadway exit lane, North Going Street on-ramp, North Alberta Street on-ramp, southbound I-405 divided from southbound I-5 (only after southbound I-5 reopens), and westbound I-84 to southbound I-5 off-ramp lanes throughout the night. Crews remove the temporary stripes and reinstall the permanent stripes in their original configuration, ODOT said. “We are asking drivers to pay attention, use caution, obey speed limits and give workers room to finish the job. The best action the public can take in the next 24 hours is to try to avoid the area while the road reopens,” officials said during the news conference. “Tripcheck.com will have the latest information for route planning.” Watch the full press conference below. The project began on September 11 and was projected to last five weeks, with a completion date set for October 16. The project repaired and reinforced weak areas along southbound I-5 in Portland’s Rose Quarter. Crews also replaced bridge joints and resurfaced the interstate. Workers also removed the concrete surface layer on the elevated structure just south of the Moda Center, making structural repairs to the base layer and replacing the concrete surface.
