SR 520 floating bridge to close Aug. 8-11 for construction

State Route 520 Eastside Transit and HOV Project crews will be hard at work over the weekend as they place asphalt on new ramps and stripe the freshly paved lanes east of the SR 520 bridge.

August 4, 2014 8:03 pm

The following is a release from the Washington State Department of Transportation:

State Route 520 Eastside Transit and HOV Project crews will be hard at work over the weekend as they place asphalt on new ramps and stripe the freshly paved lanes east of the SR 520 bridge. Beginning Friday night, Aug. 8, all SR 520 lanes across Lake Washington will be shut down in both directions between Montlake Boulevard and Interstate 405 for a weekend-long closure.

Late night drivers should also prepare for three nights of westbound closures this week, Aug. 4 to 8, between 92nd Avenue Northeast and Montlake Boulevard as crews pour concrete and put the finishing touches on the new West Connection Bridge. The structure, due for completion this fall, will connect SR 520’s existing lanes in Seattle with the highway’s new, six-lane floating bridge when it opens in spring 2016.

“We’re making steady progress and seeing a ton of improvements in the corridor,” says SR 520 Program Administrator Julie Meredith. “In the past couple of months alone, we’ve opened two new median transit stops, paved all of the Eastside’s six new mainline lanes, and opened new direct access ramps to buses.”

Overnight work, Aug. 4-8

  • All westbound lanes of SR 520 will close from 92nd Avenue Northeast to Montlake Boulevard at 11 p.m. each night, Aug. 4, 6 and 7.
  • Please note that the westbound on-ramp from 84th Avenue Northeast will close at 9 p.m. each night.
  • All lanes and ramps will reopen by 5 a.m. the following mornings.

Weekend work, Aug. 8-11

  • Crews will close all lanes and ramps of SR 520 from Montlake Boulevard to Interstate 405 at 11 p.m. Friday, Aug 8.
  • Drivers crossing Lake Washington, including those headed to this weekend’s Mariner’s games or to Kirkland Summerfest, should plan to use alternate routes around the lake.
  • All lanes and ramps will reopen by 5 a.m. Monday, Aug 11.

WSDOT’s Meredith thanks drivers for their continued patience. Construction of both the SR 520 Eastside Transit and HOV Project and the West Connection Bridge will be complete later this year. WSDOT also continues to focus on replacing the existing, structurally vulnerable floating bridge. Sixty of the new floating bridge’s 77 pontoons are now built, and more of them will be towed to Lake Washington from Aberdeen this month.

WSDOT posts information about construction closures and nighttime work on the SR 520 Orange Page, the interactive construction and driver planning tool for the SR 520 program. The SR 520 website also provides information on the SR 520 Bridge Replacement and HOV Program.