Updates On New And Old 520 Bridges

Here is the latest on the new and old SR520 Bridge, including removing the old SR520 Bridge by the end of the year

Hello, Goodbye: A new day for the new (and old) SR 520 floating bridges The new State Route 520 floating bridge fully opened to traffic Monday morning as vehicles began crossing Lake Washington on the span’s eastbound lanes at around 1:30 a.m. The milestone passage, which follows the April 11 opening of the bridge’s westbound lanes, marks the end of an era for the existing, 53-year-old floating bridge. The old, four-lane bridge carried its last car across the lake late Friday night. With SR 520 closed for the weekend, crews went about preparing for the shift in eastbound traffic onto the new, six-lane bridge. This time-lapse video shows how that weekend work progressed. Crews now will begin decommissioning the existing, structurally vulnerable bridge and, by the end of this year, removing it from Lake Washington. The old bridge’s pontoons will be towed out of Lake Washington and reused elsewhere as piers, wharfs or breakwaters. Work continues to finish the West Approach Bridge North and Rest of the West to connect the new floating bridge to Interstate 5.