SR520 Lanes Reduced This Week-End

WSDOT published this information about westbound lanes being reduced from three to two lanes:  

From 11 p.m. Friday to Monday, Oct. 14, crews will close westbound SR 520 between 92nd Avenue Northeast on the eastside and Montlake Boulevard in Seattle.

All associated SR 520 on- and off-ramps will close between 92nd Avenue Northeast and Montlake Boulevard.

The SR 520 Trail will also close across Lake Washington between Seattle and the Evergreen Point lid in Medina.

Westbound transit users and drivers should use alternative routes. Crews will close westbound State Route 520 this weekend to reduce westbound lanes from three to two between the floating bridge and Montlake Boulevard. The weekend closure is part of a two-step approach to reduce and shift lanes so crews can create a new work zone in the Montlake area and build new eastbound lanes from Montlake Boulevard to the floating bridge. 

This weekend, the first step in the process, crews will close westbound SR 520 across Lake Washington. The weekend of Oct. 26-27, crews will close eastbound SR 520. Once the process is complete, the highway will be reduced from three lanes to two in each direction between Montlake Boulevard and the floating bridge, creating the new work zone.  

The work is part of the $455 million SR 520 Montlake Project that constructs new eastbound lanes between Montlake Boulevard and the new floating bridge, builds a new Montlake community-connecting lid and transit hub (pdf 9 mb), rebuilds the Montlake Boulevard interchange, and constructs a bike and pedestrian bridge over SR 520. 

During construction, the speed limit will reduce to 40 mph to keep travelers and workers safe through the mile-and-a-half work zone between the floating bridge and Montlake Boulevard . Construction, including various work-zone configurations in the Montlake area, is expected to last until early 2023. 

“We’re asking drivers to slow down and pay attention in this area,” said Dave Becher, SR 520 director of construction. “We know this is an inconvenience now, but when construction is complete, travelers will have three lanes in each direction all the way across Lake Washington and people will have use of a new lid over SR 520 in Seattle.” 

SR 520 will be back to the 2017 lane configuration.  Once the lane-reduction process is complete, SR 520 will have two lanes in each direction between west of the new floating bridge and Montlake Boulevard, with no HOV lanes. This will be the same configuration that existed in 2017 before the new westbound lanes west of the floating bridge opened. 

Besides creating a work zone to build a new lid in Seattle, crews are shifting eastbound traffic onto part of the newly built westbound lanes. This will create room to build the new eastbound lanes. The old eastbound lanes that travel over Lake Washington were built in the 1960s and are vulnerable to earthquakes. The new, higher-capacity eastbound lanes will be wider and have an HOV lane and shoulder, making for a safer and smoother eastbound trip to the Eastside.

For more information go here.