Date:  Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Contact: Jeff Switzer, WSDOT SR 520 Communications, 206-770-3547, 206-819-7230 (cell, Seattle)

BELLEVUE – The complete construction closure of State Route 520 is canceled the weekend of June 3-6 to allow the contractor more time to design and build a concrete stream culvert that had been scheduled for installation.

Drivers still should plan ahead for future construction closures. The SR 520 floating bridge and highway is scheduled to completely close for construction June 17-20 between I-405 in Bellevue and Montlake Boulevard in Seattle.

To build major transit, HOV and environmental improvements, contractors working for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) are strictly limited to completely closing the highway and floating bridge for construction on as many as 20 weekends during the next three years.

WSDOT and the design-build contractor team Eastside Corridor Constructors (ECC) are building the $306 million Eastside Transit and HOV Project. Work includes widening the corridor to six lanes from Medina to Bellevue, rebuilding interchanges, and building fish-passable culverts, highway lids and transit stops in the center of the highway. ECC is a design-build team of Granite Construction Company and PCL Construction Services.

Closing the highway on weekends for major work keeps commuter and business traffic moving on weekdays. Some of the first major work includes digging 30-foot-deep trenches across all lanes of traffic to install prebuilt concrete fish-passable culverts.

More information about the project is online at www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR520Bridge/MedinaTo202/default.htm.

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