Date:
Friday, September 07, 2007
Contact:
Aleta Borschowa, WSDOT Project Engineer, 425-956-2119 (Bellevue)
Jamie Holter, WSDOT Communications, 206-440-4472 (Seattle)
SEATTLE – The next four weeks will be busy ones for crews working on the new westbound SR 202 flyover ramp to SR 520 in Redmond. Crews for Tri-State Construction and WSDOT will be working nights, days, and weekends. Drivers will notice big changes as the actual ramp starts to take shape.
The first major piece of work starts this Friday night, Sept. 7. At 9 p.m. crews will close the SR 202 ramp to westbound SR 520 around the clock through Monday, Sept. 10 at 5 a.m. During the closure, workers will regrade and widen the existing on-ramp. The regrading will create a safe merge between the current on-ramp and the new flyover on-ramp that will open next spring.
These before-and-after pictures show how the new ramps will work together.
www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR520/WLakeSamPk_SR202/FlyoverGraphic.htm
The second piece of high-profile work occurs mid-week next week when engineers try a construction method never before attempted on a project of this scale in Washington. They will use a 500-ton crane to lift two 100-ton precast crossbeams into place. The tricky part comes in threading 28 pieces of rebar precisely into 28 four-inch holes as the crane suspends the concrete crossbeam 40 feet in the air. If all goes as planned, this construction method could be used in the future to save time and money on future WSDOT projects by precasting other key pieces of bridge structures than the current construction method of precasting girders.
To set the scene, look at this traffic camera and find the four concrete columns with rebar jutting vertically into the air on the right side of the screen. www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/seattle/sr520_redmondway.htm#cam
Finally, in the third week of September, drivers will see overnight closures of SR 202 and possibly SR 520 as crews move fifteen concrete girders into place across the new piers, setting the foundation for the new flyover ramp.
“It’s all very exciting,” said Aleta Borschowa, WSDOT project engineer. “It’s exciting when the planning and the work come together and drivers can start to see the actual structure.”
Currently, westbound SR 202 traffic turns left onto the ramp. Eastbound traffic turns right. When the flyover ramp is complete, the westbound SR 202 traffic will no longer turn left, but rather fly over SR 202 and join the eastbound SR 202 traffic just before the two lanes merge onto SR 520.
While this flyover ramp was originally part of another project slated for construction in 2009, the legislature put this work on the fast track to unstick a bottleneck on SR 202.
“Nearly 44,000 vehicles use this section of road everyday,” said Borschowa. “The left turn onto SR 520 really jams things up. It’s not uncommon to see two-mile back ups on SR 202 during the morning commute. Our data shows us this new ramp will poke a large hole in that dam of congestion.”
The flyover ramp comes as the SR 202 – SR 520 to Sahalee Way widening project winds down. Crews have been working for two years to double the capacity on SR 202, install new signals, signs, add bicycle lanes, sidewalks, wetland sites, and safety features and place all utilities in the City of Redmond underground. www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR202/SR520_Sahalee/
The next phase of work, widening SR 520 between SR 202 and West Lake Sammamish Pkwy., begins in 2009 and will be complete by 2011. www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR520/WLakeSamPk_SR202/
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