I'm heading down I-5 next week but will need to bypass the Skagit River Bridge area.Any advice on which route to take? What is Hwy 9 like for a nervous RV'er?Nui

There is a four lane bridge next to the one that collapsed. It's a short detour to use that bridge. The question is how bad traffic will be getting around it.

If I were a nervous driver, I would head west on Hwy 20 and then come back to I-5 by heading east on Hwy 536. That should get you around the traffic backup and keep you on less crowded roads.Of course that depends on if the highway dept uses that route as a detour to keep from gridlocking Burlington Road.9 might be the worst best choice to avoid major traffic.

There will be a clearly marked Detour! Yes it will add some time to Your trip!don't sweat it!

Whatever they put in place for a detour will be there for a long time.

Actually it will be interesting to see how long it takes to get the bridge back up and running. Under normal government construction projects it would take three or more years to build a bridge there. But remember back during the Northridge earthquakes when almost all the freeways were shut down with damaged and collapsed bridges? They were rebuilding entire overpasses in 60 days. If this bridge were South of Seattle I'd say they'd have it back up in 6 weeks. Since it's North I bet it takes 9 weeks.

Advice for bypassing Skagit River Bridge? | Good Sam Community

n7bsn
Explorer
Jun 02, 2013
Canadian Rainbirds wrote:
....

These ferries don't have a lot of crossings; The Coho has only one in the winter, 2 spring and fall and three (from each side) in the summer.

Actually 4 each way from late June to early Sept, since I have taken the 8AM onto the island and the 7PM off (same day) and the 6AM off the island and the 10PM on (same day...don't ask, I don't work those kinds of hours any more)
frankdamp
Explorer
Jun 01, 2013
Yes, Ron. JR's is a gem. By far the best service place I've found. There actually is a detour sign on WB SR-20, but it's at the Avon-Allen Road traffic lights and it just says "ALT DETOUR".

I think there should be a sign near the RR crossing just south of where SR-20 turns onto Burlington Bouelvard, giving primary and alternate detour info.
Pangaea_Ron
Explorer
May 31, 2013
frankdamp wrote:
We went through Burlington on SR-20 on Wednesday and will be doing it again today. Our RV has been in repair at JR's in Sedro-Woolley (new fridge). I was expecting a lot of grief at the junction between I-5 and SR-20, but it was quite normal - no more congestion than usual.

WA-DOT has revised its detour to go off the freeway just between exits 227 (College Way) and 229 (George Hopper Road). They have re-programmed the traffic-light controllers to give the NB traffic making the left turn from College Way to Burlington Boulevard higher priority. We haven't gone that far south, so haven't seen the back-ups directly.

Don't you love going to JR's... it's a well run family business where their prices are reasonable and their work is well done. It's a nice surprise.

We traveled that route on Monday afternoon, with no congestion, but I was surprised at that time there was no signage from Hwy-20 WB to I-5 SB. Many cars were making U-turns at the first chance W of I-5?
Canadian_Rainbi
Explorer
May 31, 2013
bigred1cav wrote:
robatthelake wrote:
There will be a clearly marked Detour! Yes it will add some time to Your trip!

don't sweat it!

Rob: How do you take your bus from the Island to the mainland? What Ferry terminal. To Anacortes looks damn expensive.

To and from Mexico from Vancouver Island ( the last 11 years) we use the MV Coho between Port Angeles and Victoria. Down the 101 from Port Angeles puts you onto the I 5 south of Olympia which avoids a huge amount of I 5 traffic.

Cost is about the same or a little less than the BC Ferry route.

The Sidney-Anacourtes route used to have special fares for RVs sometimes, don't know if they still do. Haven't used it in decades as that route is less convienient for us.

These ferries don't have a lot of crossings; The Coho has only one in the winter, 2 spring and fall and three (from each side) in the summer.
frankdamp
Explorer
May 31, 2013
We went through Burlington on SR-20 on Wednesday and will be doing it again today. Our RV has been in repair at JR's in Sedro-Woolley (new fridge). I was expecting a lot of grief at the junction between I-5 and SR-20, but it was quite normal - no more congestion than usual.

WA-DOT has revised its detour to go off the freeway just between exits 227 (College Way) and 229 (George Hopper Road). They have re-programmed the traffic-light controllers to give the NB traffic making the left turn from College Way to Burlington Boulevard higher priority. We haven't gone that far south, so haven't seen the back-ups directly.
J-Rooster
Explorer
May 31, 2013
Latest update : about 3/4 of the wreckage on the I-5 Bridge has been taken out of the river. 71,000 vehicles were crossing that bridge everyday. The I-5 bridge over the Skagit River is about 40 miles from the Canadian Border and there is currently a 1 to 2 hour delay getting through the detour back onto I-5. Washington State DOT has found the bridge spans it needs to repair the bridge in Washougal, Washington State and in New Jersey. 2 of the 10 truck loads of the temporary bridge parts have arrived at Mount Vernon, Washington State. Washington State DOT is in hopes of reopening the the long range bridge replacement by june 15th, but the NTSB ongoing investigation could delay that opening date. Kitsap Sun page A-4, 5-30-13
robatthelake
Explorer
May 31, 2013
bigred1cav wrote:
robatthelake wrote:
There will be a clearly marked Detour! Yes it will add some time to Your trip!

don't sweat it!

Rob: How do you take your bus from the Island to the mainland? What Ferry terminal. To Anacortes looks damn expensive.

We have three choices , actually more like seven ,if All the BC Ferries routes are considered. All are expensive.

The main route for Us is from Nanaimo to either West Vancouver or Tsawassen on BC Ferries. Another BCF option is Swartz Bay to Tsawassen.

Two other routes are via the Washington State Ferries.

We use either the Coho from Victoria to Port Angeles ,usually at Xmas or Sidney to Anacortes!
J-Rooster
Explorer
May 27, 2013
J-Rooster wrote:
The Kitsap Sun reported today that the Washington State DOT found a temporary span and the I-5 bridge should reopen around June 15th according to Gov. Jay Inslee. The Washington State Patrol said that the Canadian Trucker had been hauling oversize loads thru there for 20 years with the proper permits and a pilot car. Oversize loads have to cross that bridge in the center most lane for the proper clearance. This time the trucker went thru in the far right lane, and there was not enough clearance in the far right lane. This was also in the Kitsap Sun a few days ago.
J-Rooster
Explorer
May 27, 2013
The Kitsap Sun reported today that the Washington State DOT found a temporary span and the bridge should reopen around June 15th according to Gov. Jay Inslee. The Washington State Patrol said that the Canadian Trucker had been hauling oversize loads thru there for 20 years with the proper permits and a pilot car. Oversize loads have to cross that bridge in the center most lane for the proper clearance. This time the trucker went thru in the far right lane, and there was not enough clearance in the far right lane. This was also in the Kitsap Sun a few days ago.
Lincoln4
Explorer
May 27, 2013
n7bsn wrote:
Jarlaxle wrote:
Hmm...here's a question: why not see if the Corps of Engineers can put a temporary floating bridge (as used my the military to cross a river) up to replace the collapsed span until it can be rebuilt?

Trust me, Washington state knows floating bridges. They have built five (and sank two). I-90 crosses Lake Washington on one, as does Wash-520, Wash 104 crosses Hood Canal (a Fjord off Puget Sound).

Part of the first Hood Canal bridge sank 30 odd years ago, the engineers wanted to add generators as back-up power for the sump pumps. The pencil pushers in Olympia decided that the bridge didn't loose power often enough. Forgetting that it usually lost power in major storms, when wind was blowing waves over the bridge and rain added even more water...

In 1990 the I-90 bridge was being rebuilt. The pencil pushers in Olympia decided to save money by using the pontoons to capture the waste water from demolition (it was classed a hazardous waster). That worked fine until there was another major storm, adding waves and rain to the pontoons (which couldn't be pumped out, due to the "waste").

Having those two incidents in mind, I was LOLing in front of the TV the other day. Listening to the local talking heads discussing how we in the Puget Sound area have never seen anything this traffic affecting!

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