Reminder: SR 167 Closure Is This Weekend

SUMNER, WA — It is happening, for real this time: a northbound SR 167 closure is likely to cause massive traffic backups this weekend all across eastern Pierce County.

As WSDOT explains, northbound SR 167 will be closed between Sumner and Pacific for several days starting Friday evening, which is likely to cause widespread traffic problems as the tens of thousands of cars that commute across the state route will be rerouted onto city streets.

The closure runs for nearly four miles, from the interchange with SR 410 in Sumner to 8th Street East in Pacific. It begins 8:30 p.m. Friday, and will wrap up at 4 a.m. on Monday.

"During the closure, we'll use a mix of city and county streets as a detour," wrote WSDOT's Cara Mitchell. "None of them were built to handle the volume of SR 167 and that's where you come in. We'll all have to work together during this closure."

To put the severity of this closure in perspective: WSDOT says some 50,000 cars use northbound SR 167 between Puyallup and Auburn every day. If only half of those drivers, 25,000, try to use the same road during the closure, WSDOT models show that it could cause a 10-mile backup or more.

Unfortunately, there aren't any other freeways in the area that can absorb an extra 50,000 drivers per day, so even if daily traffic is low it's still likely to be major headache. To make the process as smooth as possible, WSDOT has outlined some easy detour routes, shown below.

Other drivers will likely flock to I-5, SR 161, SR 169 and SR 99, WSDOT said. Drivers on those freeways should also expect extra traffic as a result.

"We can't stress enough that these are local streets," Mitchell said. "We truly need a lot of people to simply not go through this area during the weekend closure."

To cut down on the backup, WSDOT is asking drivers to consider delaying any trips north during the closure. If it's important that you head north posthaste, they ask that you use transit, carpool or vanpool options just to reduce the number of cars on the road. Drivers are also advised to give themselves an extra 90 minutes of travel time if they're passing through the area.

Though it will be a major pain that weekend, there is a silver lining to all this: during the closure crews will be installing and putting the finishing touches on a new northbound HOV lane, which should reduce congestion on SR 167 long-term, if drivers can tough out a rough few days.