After several months of diverting buses around construction, King County Metro Transit plans to return bus service to Fairview Avenue North starting Saturday, March 16.

Construction crews working for the city of Seattle plan to reopen Fairview to traffic on March 9 if weather conditions are favorable for completing remaining work.

With construction wrapping up, Metro is notifying customers who use routes 70, 71, 72, 73, and 83 – which travel between downtown Seattle and the University District – and Route 309 traveling between First Hill and Kenmore.

These bus routes are scheduled to shift from Eastlake Avenue East back to Fairview starting March 16, one week after the scheduled reopening of the street in order to ensure all associated transit facilities are ready and to provide adequate communication to all bus riders. Route 70 will also resume regular service on Fairview Avenue North via Virginia Street at the same time.

Until then, these buses remain on temporary reroutes. These routes have traveled via Eastlake and Stewart Street since August 2012 when Fairview was reduced to only one northbound traffic lane as part of the city of Seattle’s Mercer Corridor Project.

Route 309, a weekday route, is scheduled to return to service via Fairview Avenue North on Monday, March 18.