520 closures will slow Seahawks fans returning home from Sunday’s game
Nov 19, 2015, 5:21 AM | Updated: 9:24 am
520 will be closed this weekend so the contractor can work on the west connection to Montlake. (Chris Sullivan/KIRO Radio)
(Chris Sullivan/KIRO Radio)
Last weekend it was I-90, this weekend it’s the 520 bridge.
The entire bridge, in both directions, will be out of commission all weekend for work on the west side of the bridge.
Tell us about the biggest chokepoint
It will be closed from 92nd Avenue to Montlake in the westbound direction from Friday night until 11 a.m. on Sunday. The eastbound closure from I-5 to 92nd Avenue will last from Friday night until 5 a.m. Monday.
Normally, these closures don’t extend to I-5.
“The people in the Montlake area, it’s going to be different for them,” said Brian Dobbins, construction engineering manager for the Washington State Department of Transportation. “They’re going to be able to go into the city, but they’re not going to be able to come back on 520. They’re going to have to take 45th or some of those exits closer to the Capitol Hill area.”
Dobbins says they’re opening the westbound direction early on Sunday to allow Seahawks traffic another option to get to the game. But fans won’t be able to take the 520 bridge home from the game because the closure starts at I-5.
During the closures, workers are adding another lane to the 520 off- and on-ramps to Montlake, which is why the closure starts at I-5. Crews will also tear down part of the 24th Avenue bridge. That’s the street that led to the old MOHAI building.
Related: I-405 Express toll lanes slowing weekend traffic
Eventually, there will be a dedicated off-ramp from westbound 520 to 24th Avenue so drivers can access Lake Washington Boulevard.
The 520 bridge from Montlake to the Eastside is still on schedule to open in 2017. The state is still in the conceptual stages of what the connection to I-5 will look like. That part of the project just received funding from the Legislature.
