SMOKEY POINT — Drivers on I-5 in the Lakewood and Smokey Point areas should expect overnight closures of inside lanes during the next three weeks starting Monday, Dec. 5, for construction of the city of Marysville’s 156th Street overpass project.

One inside freeway lane in each direction will close Dec. 5 starting at 8 p.m. so construction crews can reset the cable barrier in the median for the bridge project located about a mile south of the State Route 531 and 172nd Street NE I-5 interchange.

City of Marysville Public Works and Washington State Department of Transportation officials, and contractor Atkinson Construction, hammered out a work schedule that provides crews time to complete this stage of work in the median, while minimizing traffic disruptions.

Between Dec. 6-8, only the southbound left-hand lane will be closed overnight to establish an access road behind the barriers, city of Marysville Project Manager Pat Gruenhagen said.

Crews will move heavy machinery and equipment into the median from Dec. 13-15, with the southbound left-hand lane closure starting at 10 p.m., and the actual drilling of bridge shafts to begin the week of Dec. 19. Drilling work will require closing both the northbound and southbound left-hand lanes

The Lakewood Triangle Access and 156th Street I-5 overcrossing is a $13 million public-private partnership project that will create a two-lane bridge connecting Smokey Point Boulevard with Twin Lakes Boulevard and the growing Lakewood retail and residential area to the west of I-5.

The project is scheduled for completion in August of 2012. For more information, contact Gruenhagen by phone at 360-363-8279 or via email pgruenhagen@marysvillewa.gov. For background and updates, visit the project page at http://marysvillewa.gov/index.aspx?nid=388.