Date:
Monday, June 26, 2006
Contact:
Doug Haight, Project Engineer, (425) 649-4429 (Bellevue)
Melanie Coon, WSDOT Communications, (206) 440-4700 (Seattle)
Laura Johnson, WSDOT Communications, (206) 254- 7625 (Seattle)
KIRKLAND – WSDOT has reopened northbound I-405 through Kirkland ahead of schedule, avoiding a potentially unpleasant Monday afternoon commute. At 8:56 a.m. this morning, all lanes of northbound I-405 reopened at NE 124th Street in Kirkland. Northbound I-405 had been completely closed since late Friday night so crews could lower a section of the freeway. The original schedule called for possibly having northbound I-405 closed through Monday afternoon’s commute.
“We’re pleased that our prime contractor, Kuney Construction and subcontractors KLB and Lakeside have helped us avoid having the freeway shut down through a major commute period,” stated WSDOT Project Engineer Doug Haight. “Working extra crews and bringing a lot of material to the site in advance really helped them shave time off the schedule,” he said.
On an average weekday, northbound I-405 carries approximately 60,000 vehicles through Kirkland. Since the contractor opened the road nearly 24 hours ahead of schedule, his $100,000 bonus ended up costing taxpayers about 1.67 per vehicle to avoid significant congestion and inconvenience to Monday commuters.
Traffic conditions on I-405 were manageable most of the weekend, with only a few exceptions resulting from incidents or disabled vehicles through the construction zone. Our Incident Response Team (IRT) trucks quickly responded to disabled vehicles and incidents keeping traffic snarls to a minimum.
This weekend marked the most intense period of construction activities on Eastside highways this summer. Both directions of State Route 9 north of Woodinville also reopened on schedule at 5 a.m. today as crews completed the sewer line installation requiring the weekend-long closure of that highway.
Eastside drivers did themselves a favor by making good decisions on where and when to travel this past weekend. It’s been proven over and over that travel adjustments by the public significantly affects the actual congestion from major closures like these. Our preliminary traffic data shows that drivers chose alternate routes, shared rides, and rescheduled trips to help reduce backups.
The northbound I-405 work is associated with Sound Transit’s Totem Lake Freeway Station Project, designed and built by WSDOT. New ramps in the I-405 median will allow buses, vanpools and carpools to enter and exit the freeway without merging through three lanes of traffic, easing congestion and enhancing safety for all drivers. The NE 128th Street bridge will provide a new east-west route across I-405 for all drivers. The new ramps and bridge are scheduled to open this fall and are expected to carry more than 100 daily bus trips. This project complements WSDOT’s broader plan for improvements along the I-405 corridor. For more information about the I-405 Totem Lake Freeway Station project, visit our project web page: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/i405/TotemLake/
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