A major Maple Leaf intersection will be shut down this Saturday and Sunday mornings when the city’s transportation department closes Fifth Avenue Northeast at Northeast Northgate Way.
The work, to remove existing utility poles and replace them with two 90-foot poles, will close Fifth north of Northgate on Saturday, May 5, from 6 a.m. to noon. On Sunday, at the sames times, Fifth will be closed south of Northgate.
The large crane needed to install the new poles will take up much of the roadway, the Department of Transportation said. It suggests using Eighth Avenue Northeast as an alternative to Fifth.
Beginning this summer, the department will be working on major improvements to the intersection.
They include:
· An additional left-turn lane from westbound Northgate onto southbound Fifth.
· A landscaped median with trees on Northgate just west of the intersection.
· An extended northbound right turn lane on Fifth that turns eastbound onto Northgate.
It’s all part of the Northgate Coordinated Transportation Investment Plan. For more details on the intersection, click here. For a larger map, click here.
There are major traffic revisions leading up to this closure! I was up there this morning and it was almost impossible to go north through Northgate Way on 5th. There was no left turn out of the west side of the mall onto 5th because of the queue.
It’s been a mystery all the road work on Northgate . . .a corallary project perhaps.