Speed change on section of I-5 south of Olympia

Your drive to Portland is going to take a little longer next week.

Starting Monday, the speed limit drops from 70 mph to 60 mph on a 12-mile stretch of Interstate 5 south of Olympia, between milepost 85 and 97, where the state is widening the freeway and building new bridges through Fall 2010. The limit will be lowered for the next two years.

The Grand Mound to Maytown project adds a third lane in the northbound and southbound directions between Highways 12 and 121. This $88 million project also realigns a segment of I-5 to provide a more gradual curve.

About 60,000 vehicles travel the Grand Mound-to-Maytown stretch of I-5 each day and about 20 percent of those vehicles are freight trucks.