Boat traffic rerouted with new 520 bridge span

Boats sailing in Lake Washington will have to take a different path for passing the 520 bridge for a while.

Dave Becher, Washington State Transportation
Floating Bridge and Landings Manager, told KIRO Radio starting Tuesday, the new bridge will extend beyond the current drawspan, effectively blocking the channel for boats to pass through the middle of the existing bridge.

“The only time that the drawspan will open is for our regular maintenance closures that occur late at night or early in the morning once a month or if there’s a large windstorm where they need to take the pressure off the bridge.”

WSDOT says since construction on the new floating bridge began in 2012 and blocked the old bridge’s east navigation channel, the drawspan has opened for marine traffic more than 600 times.

The new six-lane bridge won’t have a drawspan. It will have an east high-rise clearance of 70 feet. That matches the height of the I-90 East Channel Bridge.

Until the new bridge’s scheduled opening in spring 2016, tall boats will need to go under the old bridge’s 58-foot-tall high-rise near the Medina shoreline.

There are 60 pleasure and commercial boats that won’t be able to fit underneath.

Transportation officials say they’ve been working with the boating community to tell them they have to pick a side of Lake Washington, either north or south of 520.

WSDOT completed the final opening Monday around 5 p.m.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.