A rainy forecast is making a busy weekend a little easier for drivers in the Bellevue area. Wet weather forecast for Sunday has postponed the closure of I-405 Bellevue until next weekend, Oct. 1.

“Crews are putting down the final layer of pavement and permanent striping on I-405 in Bellevue,” said Lorena Eng, WSDOT regional administrator. “We want to make sure our work is perfect, and we can’t afford to take risks with the weather.”

Construction planned for this weekend on I-405 included restriping all the lanes of northbound I-405 and all the ramps to and from I-405. With a rainy forecast, WSDOT contractor crews couldn’t guarantee that the striping would be crystal clear. Crystal clear striping is vital to the safety of drivers on this busy freeway.

“We are fundamentally changing the way people drive I-405, and we made the safest decision we could,” said Seema Javeri, WSDOT project engineer. At this time, the work is tentatively rescheduled to next weekend, which has a long-range forecast of a 30 percent chance of rain. The project is still nine months ahead of schedule.