Date:  Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Contact: Mike Murphy, WSDOT Communications, 206-440-4699 (Seattle)

Crews are installing bridge girders to widen the highway

REDMOND – Drivers will notice more nighttime activity on SR 520 in Redmond during the next few weeks as crews working to widen the highway approach a major construction milestone.

Crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation and PCL Construction, Inc. will install large girders to widen the SR 520 overpasses at NE 76th Street and SR 202.

“This work is a big step toward easing the commute in Redmond.” Engineering Manager Gil McNabb said. “In the meantime, drivers need to plan ahead so they don’t get caught in nighttime construction.”

Crews will close westbound SR 520 at Avondale Road from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. through Thursday night to install girders and demolish overpass edges. Traffic will be detoured onto NE 76th Street. Drivers should expect similar closures during the next few weeks. Current closure information can be found on the King County Construction Update Report at: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Northwest/King/Construction.

When this project is completed in late 2010, drivers will have a new merge lane and carpool lane in each direction of SR 520, widening the highway from two lanes to four in each direction. Traffic engineers estimate this will reduce peak morning commute times by 60 percent and reduce peak evening commute times by 75 percent.

This work is the final piece in a series of improvements along the SR 202/SR 520 corridor that began in 2004. Last September, crews finished widening three miles of SR 202 from SR 520 to Sahalee Way in rural King County. Crews also completed a flyover ramp in February 2008 that eliminated the left turn for drivers going from westbound SR 202 to westbound SR 520.

For more information about this project, please visit: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR520/WLakeSamPk_SR202/. To see photos of the girder installation, go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/sets/72157622013753757.

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