Weekend to bring triple-whammy for Seattle road and light rail closures
Oct 11, 2019, 7:21 AM
Freshly painted lane stripes on the northbound (lower) deck of the SR 99 tunnel (WSDOT)
(WSDOT)
Light rail. 520. The SR-99 tunnel. There are going to be service disruptions across the board this weekend in Seattle.
520 bridge project to bring weekend closures to Montlake
You will not be able to go through Seattle on light rail this weekend, as the Pioneer Square station will be closed for construction. Sound Transit’s David Jackson said the agency is building a new temporary ramp at the station to prepare for 10 weeks of disruption in early 2020.
“Beginning Friday night at 11 p.m., buses will replace trains on link light rail between Capitol Hill and SoDo,” he said. “That closure will continue through the weekend, and we open for normal business on Monday morning. This construction is in preparation for tying in the new Eastside light rail line.
Metro Transit’s Jeff Switzer said light rail users will need to jump on buses to continue their trips through downtown.
“King County Metro is going to have about 50 bus drivers and about two-dozen buses that are going to be operating on the surface streets, helping to keep people moving through the downtown core,” he said.
The buses will be labeled “Link Shuttle,” and they are free for light rail riders. Light rail will still run from Capitol Hill to the U-District, and from SoDo to Angle Lake.
Seattle’s SR-99 tunnel will have disruptions all weekend too. Southbound will be closed Friday night for maintenance. Northbound will be closed all weekend.
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“The northbound closure is for some concrete work,” the Washington Department of Transportation’s Bart Treece said. “It’s going to take a little more time than a maintenance closure.”
Westbound 520 will be closed from Medina to Montlake all weekend. Workers will be getting rid of one lane between the floating bridge and Montlake. They need that room for a work zone for the next phase of the project.
The agencies worked together to plan these three major closures on a weekend without any huge events. The Huskies, Seahawks, and Sounders are all out of town, so the hope is that the construction won’t cause any large-scale congestion.
