Date:
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Contact:
Brian Dobbins, Project Engineer, (425) 956-2100 (Seattle)
Myly Posse, WSDOT Communications, (206) 440-4700 (Seattle)
Three Phase Project Reduces Congestion by More Than 50 Percent
REDMOND - Today WSDOT officials and engineers joined local leaders and Microsoft representatives to kick off what is shaping up to be the most dramatic decrease in congestion in the SR 202 / SR 520 commute corridor.
“This is phase two of a three phase project,” said WSDOT Regional Administrator Lorena Eng. “But it’s the one drivers will notice the most once we open this new westbound 202 to westbound 520 flyover ramp next spring.”
WSDOT contractor, Tri-State Construction, has officially broken ground on a ramp that will peel off of westbound 202 to the right, cross under SR 520, rise and run parallel to westbound SR 520 before joining the highway from the right.
Currently drivers sit through two lights before turning left to the on-ramp. Those two lights often translate into three-to-five mile morning back ups on SR 202.
“This is a critical transportation corridor,” said Don Gerend, Sammamish City Councilmember. “These projects will help accommodate ever-increasing traffic in the area.”
“Combine this new flyover ramp with the new lanes between Sahalee Way and SR 520 that we expect to open next year and SR 202 congestion will all but disappear,” said Eng. The final phase of the SR 520 West Lake Sammamish Parkway to SR 202 project will widen SR 520 from two to four lanes by adding a merge lane and a carpool lane in each direction. This will reduce morning travel times by 60 percent and evening travel times by 75 percent.
“We’ve heard from our employees that this project is a priority for them,” said Jim Stanton from Microsoft. “Not only does it provide general purpose mobility, it also improves mobility for alternative modes of transportation, such as carpools and vanpools.”
State Senator Rodney Tom, D-Medina, agreed. “I commend WSDOT for making sure that these projects make sense not only for today but for tomorrow. This shows how nickel tax projects really do make a difference in people’s lives.”
When complete, these projects will reduce collisions at the NE 76th Street signal, eliminate the bottleneck between SR 202 and Avondale Road and tie into local transportation improvement project at NE 76th Street and Union Hill Road.
“We have a longstanding working relationship with the state,” said Rosemarie Ives, Mayor of Redmond. “Together we are working fast and furiously to improve the SR 202 corridor.”
Probably the best news for drivers today came from the local construction crews. They noted that most of the flyover phase of the job will be off SR 202 and off SR 520 so the impact to drivers will be minimal.
The 2003 Gas Tax provides $102.3 million in funding for this project. For more information, please visit our Web page: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR520/WLakeSamPk_SR202.
###
< Back to News Home