SR-520 Montlake Project to hit milestone this weekend

All lanes of State Route 520 will close between Interstate 5 and 92nd on the eastside at 11 p.m. Friday night and remain closed through early Monday morning.

This is nothing new for us. The Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has done this a lot as it works to finish the Montlake Lid portion of construction.

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“The reason we need to shut down 520 is so we can place girders, and we would have to do that over live traffic,” explained WSDOT’s Steve Peer. “We don’t want to do that.”

So what’s the big deal? WSDOT has been installing girders for the new 3-acre Montlake Lid for months. 

“We are putting up our final girder this weekend,” Peer said. “We are putting up 37 this weekend, but it will be that 37th that will actually be our 513th girder for the Montlake Project.”

The final girder is a big deal. More than 200 of them went into the new eastbound lanes from Montlake to the floating bridge. The rest created the lid over the freeway.

I was able to walk up to the north end of what will become the new pedestrian and bicycle bridge over the freeway on Wednesday. I was about 50 feet up, and this new bridge is impressive. It’s not just some simple path over the freeway. 

“Originally, we were calling it a land bridge because it’s 73 feet wide, and only 14 feet are for the bike and pedestrians,” Peer said. “There will be green space on both sides.”

It will be a really nice way for bicyclists and pedestrians to cross the freeway, and its created what I think will become one of the more popular picture spots in the city. “It’s kind of an unprecedented view,” Peer said.

You get an elevated view of the east end of the Montlake Cut, the crew house, and the east end of Husky Stadium. On game days, I think this would be an excellent spot for a picture, especially with all the boats and the stadium behind you. It won’t be ready for this fall, but watch for it.

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Now that I’ve gotten all the bicyclists and pedestrians excited, here’s the bad news for this weekend’s closure: The 520 trail will be closed too. So this is a complete shutdown of 520 access.

Workers will use the time to get a lot of extra things done like drainage and electrical work too.

The Montlake Lid project is still on schedule to wrap up in early 2024, but Peer told me the new eastbound lanes should open this summer, possibly by July or August.

This would give us three lanes in each direction from Montlake to Interstate 405, and westbound drivers won’t have to share their lanes with eastbound drivers anymore.

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