Work that was supposed to be done in October but was postponed due to weather is expected to begin Friday night.
If the weather holds up, westbound of state Route 18 east of Auburn will be reduced to one lane.
Crews from the Department of Transportation will be repairing a hillside that slid last November.
The right lane of SR 18 will be closed starting at 7 p.m. Nov. 11 and will remain closed until 5 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15.
This stretch of SR 18 is just east of the Green River Bridge.
Again, weather could delay the lane closure.
Drivers should expect delays
Westbound SR 18 carries about 27,000 vehicles daily in this area. Reducing it to one lane will likely create delays on:
- Monday afternoon of up to an hour.
- Sunday afternoon and Monday morning of about 30 minutes.
- Friday night and Saturday of 15 minutes or less.
Drivers should consider using SR 516 between Covington and Kent as an alternate route. However, delays are also possible there depending on how many drivers use the detour.
Repair work
The hillside is stable now, but WSDOT geotechnical engineers are concerned that months of wet weather this winter could trigger another slide. Repairing it now will reduce the chances of another slide that could endanger drivers and damage the highway.
To repair the hillside, the contractor crews will use the closed right lane and shoulder for an excavator with a 72-foot-long arm. The excavator will remove soil to build terraces in the hillside, which then will be covered with rocks to reduce the chance of a future slide.
