Date:
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Contact:
Doug Haight, Project Engineer, 425-649-4429 (Bellevue)
Mia Waters, WSDOT Air, Noise & Energy Engineer, (206) 440-4541 (Seattle)
Myly Posse, WSDOT Communications, 206-440-4700 (Seattle
SEATTLE – Crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) are getting ready to place 1.6 miles of quieter pavement on SR 520 from Medina to Bellevue.
Beginning Sunday, June 24, drivers can expect intermittent closures of up to two lanes on westbound SR 520 between 76th Avenue NE and Bellevue Way NE from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. Crews will close the westbound HOV lane at 7 p.m. and an additional lane at 11 p.m.
Lane closures will continue Sunday through Thursday nights, excluding the Fourth of July holiday, as crews complete necessary prep work for paving. Eastbound lane closures will not begin until 11 p.m.
"We're getting everything ready with the hopes that weather will cooperate with us during the July 14-15 weekend," said Project Engineer Doug Haight.
WSDOT anticipates placing the quieter pavement test sections in both directions of SR 520 from Evergreen Point Road to Bellevue Way NE in conjunction with the annual SR 520 maintenance closure scheduled for the weekend of July 14-15. Quieter pavement installation is extremely weather sensitive. Paving requires a rain-free forecast and temperatures of at least 55 degrees.
"We're trying to minimize traffic disruptions as much as possible for drivers. If the weather doesn't cooperate, the bridge crews will postpone the annually scheduled maintenance closure and we'll both try again the following weekend on July 21-22. But if it rains that weekend as well, bridge crews will conduct the maintenance closure and we'll proceed with our fallback plan for pavement installation." said Haight.
The fallback plan for WSDOT's SR 520 Quieter Pavement Project consists of paving test sections over seven nights. This will require closing either eastbound or westbound SR 520 overnight for the roadway paving, or closing lanes on SR 520 for paving under the median barrier.
The $5 million SR 520 Quieter Pavement Project is funded through the 2005 Transportation Partnership gas tax and is one of several projects in Washington State that is testing how quieter pavement performs in the Pacific Northwest's unique driving and climate conditions. WSDOT will study the test sections and measure the pavement's effectiveness, durability and how well it withstands conditions like snow, rain, traffic and studded tires for a period of at least five years. Test results will be available on the Web.
Noise tests are currently underway on a quieter pavement test section crews placed last fall on I-5 in Lynwood. Test results for the Lynnwood projects can be found at: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/QuieterPavement/Results.htm.
For more detailed information about the SR 520 Quieter Pavement Project, please visit: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR520/EastsideQuiet/
For information about WSDOT's quieter pavement program, please visit: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/QuieterPavement/Default.htm
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