520 closures expected to snarl weekend traffic

June is not going to be an easy month to get across Lake Washington on the 520 bridge. Major construction closures are planned for three of the four weekends.

All eastbound lanes of the 520 bridge will be closed between Friday, June 5 at 11 p.m. and Monday, June 8 at 5 a.m.

Related: Get full closure details here

Getting into Seattle for the Mariners-Rays series or the Shania Twain concert at KeyArena won’t be a problem but getting home might be.

Closures are also planned for the weekend of June 12-15 (one eastbound lane) and June 26-29 (all lanes closed in both directions).

“All this work is taking place in June,” said Travis Phelps is with the Washington State Department of Transportation. “A lot of the questions we get is, ‘Why are you doing this in June with all of the events, why can’t you push this off until August or September or later on in the fall?'”

Major events in June include four Mariners series at home, the Seattle Storm season starts, Seattle PrideFest, University of Washington graduation, the Rock “n” Roll Marathon, and countless concerts.

“We’re doing our best to work around these major events given that there’s really no good time to do a lot of this work,” Phelps said. “We’ve got to keep our products on schedule. We’ve got to install some critical points of work … To do that, we need to shut down some roads.”

Tell us about a chokepoint

What’s so important that the state has to do this to us?

WSDOT crews need to move the tolling equipment in preparation for moving traffic to the new 520 bridge. They’re going to move the gear from over the water to a spot just west of the last exit.

“We need to do that now so that we have plenty of time to test that equipment, tune it, and make sure it’s all working correctly before we start moving the actual toll collection from the existing toll point to the interim toll point,” explained Jennifer Charlebois, WSDOT’s toll system manager for 520.

The tolling equipment is actually going to be moved two times before it settles into its permanent location.

Charlesbois has one very important piece of information for drivers.

“They will see some temporary toll rate signs in the corridor over near 84th,” she said. “They might see some flashing lights from that new toll equipment. Even though they see that toll equipment at the interim toll location, they will not be tolled twice. We will continue to collect tolls at the existing toll point until we let drivers and customers know that we’re transitioning to the new toll point.”

The best advice: start planning your trips now. Look for alternate routes and be prepared for a lot of congestion.