Weekend 520 bridge closures mean project one step closer to replacement
May 9, 2014, 5:00 PM | Updated: 6:34 pm
Five new pontoons for the new 520 bridge are expected on Lake Washington by Monday. (WSDOT)
(WSDOT)
While lane closures on the 520 bridge over Mother’s Day weekend might feel like a drag, the WSDOT says there’s an end in sight.
“The big payoff to all of this is that you get a brand new floating bridge that’s much safer,” said Ian Sterling, spokesperson for the Washington State Department of Transportation.
All westbound lanes on the bridge from I-405 to Montlake Boulevard are closed from Friday night to early Monday morning (5 a.m.).
Road crews will use the closures to pour the first batch of concrete, up to 30 truckloads, for the roadway deck on the new West Connection Bridge, according to Sterling.
Besides being safer, Sterling said the new bridge, which is scheduled to open in April of 2016, is designed so that both boaters and drivers will experience fewer delays.
“(It) is much taller and it will not have a drawspan. It means we won’t be closing for windstorms,” said Sterling. “Drivers won’t have to wait for boats to go through a drawspan because there won’t be one.”
While trucks are pouring concrete, more pontoons are on their way to Lake Washington from Tacoma, one of two locations where they’re being built. They’ll make their way to the lake through the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks in Ballard. WSDOT has a list of vantage points if you want to see Terilyn the tug boat in action.
Five new pontoons are expected on the lake by Monday. You can follow along with the construction on WSDOT’s pontoon tracker and even build your own floating bridge with its printable templates.
Closure details:
-Crews will close both westbound lanes of SR 520 from Interstate 405 to Montlake Boulevard at 11 p.m. Friday, May 9.
-Drivers crossing Lake Washington westbound should plan to use Interstate 90 or another alternate route around the lake.
-All lanes will reopen between I-405 and 92nd Avenue Northeast by 10 a.m. Sunday, May 11.
-Westbound SR 520 will remain closed between 92nd Avenue Northeast and Montlake Boulevard until 5 a.m. Monday, May 12, when it reopens in time for the morning commute.
-The 108th Avenue Northeast on-ramps to westbound and eastbound SR 520 will also close from 11 p.m. Friday, May 9, to 5 a.m. Monday, May 12.
-Eastbound SR 520 will remain open through the weekend.
