VANTAGE, Wash. — Driving across the Vantage Bridge ended up going better than expected for travelers along Interstate 90 Friday afternoon.
Construction in the bridge reduced traffic to two narrow lanes in each direction. This was anticipated to slow traffic for those heading west to Seattle for the Apple Cup, those heading east for a concert in the Gorge or others embarking on a cross country road trip.
“We’re doing a National Parks tour of the West Coast starting in Denver and doing a big loop back around to Denver,” said Boyd and Maryanne Dunn from Pennsylvania.
This is the sixth day on the road for the Dunn’s. Friday afternoon, they were heading westbound over the Vantage Bridge to Olympic National Park.
“We didn’t notice anything, the traffic was flowing,” they said. “Just normal traffic on a Friday afternoon.”
The couple mentioned seeing signs telling drivers that traffic was free flowing and there were no delays on the bridge.
All afternoon, cars and trucks moved through smoothly as construction workers worked on the outer lanes.
Eastbound I-90 was slightly more backed up than westbound, which was no surprise to Nicole Mandt who was heading to the Gorge Amphitheater with her friends from Seattle.
“We did hear that it was supposed to be pretty bad. We planned to leave early for that reason. We heard that people leaving after 2 p.m. from Seattle were stuck for a long time, so we were trying to kind of beat that,” Mandt said.
But this window of easy driving may not last forever.
The Washington Department of Transportation said if you have plans to travel this weekend, consider taking alternative routes to avoid the bridge. You can find a map of the alternative route suggestions here.
WSDOT said bridge construction is expected to continue until November 1.
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