MARYSVILLE – While Seattle has its “Mercer Mess,” we are having the “Marysville Mess.”

Highway 528 will be a mess on three upcoming weekends. The weekend closures of the Hewitt Avenue trestle in Everett could gridlock traffic from Marysville to Mill Creek.

And the detours are going to take travelers an extra 45 minutes – at least. That’s what a state Department of Transportation news release says.

On the weekends of Aug. 18-19, Sept. 8-9 and Sept. 15-16, crews will close all lanes of westbound U.S. 2 between Highway 9 and I-5.

Crews will repave the west end of the trestle between Homeacres Road and I-5. Travelers must detour onto Highway 9 with options to go northbound on a 10-mile route to Highway 528 in Marysville or southbound on a 12-mile route to Cathcart Way and Highway 96 in Mill Creek.

The number of vehicles on northbound Highways 9 and 528 will double during the closures. Southbound Highways 9 and 96 will see the number of vehicles triple.

There are backroads and a GPS might guide you through those areas – but expect others to do the same thing, WSDOT says.

WSDOT recommends people: carpool, take transit, check Community Transit’s website for route updates, move discretionary travel to a non-construction weekend and travel before 8 a.m. or after 8 p.m. to avoid peak congestion.