Counting down to Montlake Lid opening on SR 520
Aug 20, 2024, 6:37 AM
A graphic rendering of the busy summer construction schedule for SR 520, including the Montlake Lid project. (Graphic rendering courtesy of WSDOT)
(Graphic rendering courtesy of WSDOT)
We’re down to the final checklists and finishing touches for the Montlake Lid Project on State Route 520 (SR 520).
There are just three more full closures of SR 520 related to the Montlake Lid Project. The full closures are needed to test all the systems inside the new lid and to finish the direct access ramps that will take transit up to the new station at Montlake.
That finishing work is vital in making sure everything is functioning properly.
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“Commissioning is verifying that all those systems work,” Steve Peer, a Media and Construction Communications Manager for the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT), said. “The lighting system works. The fire suppression system works. Does the drainage work after there’s been foam in case of a fire on 520? We have to make sure that this all works.”
Other parts of the corridor will also use the closure to get some work done.
“There’s some drilling work way to the west that the Portage Bay Bridge and Roanoke Lid folks are going to be doing,” Peer said. “They need an empty roadway to do that. There’s some sign bridge work. There’s lots of little finishing touches that need to happen this weekend.”
SR 520 will be closed in both directions from 11 p.m. Friday night until early Monday morning. The closure is at Interstate 5 (I-5) on the west side and 92nd on the east side. There will be no access to Montlake from SR 520. The trail will also be closed.
When will the project officially be done?
“What we’re looking for realistically is to have the lid operational at the end of October,” Peer said.
Drivers should get their second lane on the ramp to southbound I-5 a few weeks ahead of that, but there is a chance for that reversible ramp to the express lanes. That will not be opening any time soon. WSDOT had hoped to open that as soon as it was finished, but the Portage Bay work will be in the way.
“The crews need that for some staging,” Peer said. “It’s a safety issue.”
Once the Montlake Project finishes, attention will turn to the final piece of the 520 expansion. The final mile from Montlake, over Portage Bay, to I-5.
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Even though the project is $700 million over budget, and that financing hasn’t been finalized, work is already underway on that section.
“As far as construction, it’s full speed ahead there,” Peer said.
Construction on that final piece of SR 520 will take seven or eight years. Detours, delays and closures aren’t going anywhere.
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