What’s next for the 1-year-old 520 floating bridge
Apr 25, 2017, 2:41 PM | Updated: 2:42 pm
The new State Route 520 floating bridge opened a year ago Tuesday.
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Though the bridge is carrying about 77,000 vehicles per day over Lake Washington, there is plenty of work left to do on the record-breaking monument of civil engineering.
This summer, the West Approach bridge North is expected to open to traffic. The 1.2-mile-long bridge will carry westbound traffic from the floating bridge to Montlake. The bicycle and pedestrian path will also be extended across Lake Washington.
The current west approach bridge is vulnerable to seismic shaking. Its four-lane road has narrow shoulders and no transit/HOV lanes, or a bicycle/pedestrian path.
In 2018, the state plans to break ground on the Montlake phase of construction. Crews will build a West Approach Bridge South to carry eastbound traffic from Montlake to the floating bridge.
A landscaped lid will also be built over SR 520 in Montlake to “further improve connections for transit, pedestrians, and bicyclists.
Plans are also underway for the replacement of the bridge’s Portage Bay Bridge between Montlake and I-5, as well as adding a second drawbridge over the Montlake Cut, south of University of Washington.
