SR 520 reopened after weekend construction | Crews installed 42 girders, built work bridge for floating bridge project

Published 10:30 am Monday, April 30, 2012

Another batch of girders is in place over State Route 520 and the highway has reopened after a busy weekend of construction.

Crews installed 42 girders as part of a future lidded overpass at 84th Avenue Northeast, and installed more than 1,000 feet of drainage pipes beneath the highway. Also, crews built a construction access bridge on the bridge’s east highrise so workers can better reach the floating bridge work zone.

An estimated 150 workers were on-hand to complete construction throughout the 2.5-mile-long project corridor from Medina to Bellevue. Starting today, buses will merge with general traffic just west of 92nd Avenue Northeast, a move that creates a longer merge from the 84th Avenue Northeast on-ramp and improves visibility for westbound traffic.

The next weekend construction closure of SR 520 is planned June 1-4.

The SR 520 Eastside Transit and HOV Project widens SR 520 to six lanes between Medina and Bellevue. Crews are rebuilding interchanges, constructing highway lids and bus stops in the center of the highway and installing fish-passable culverts. In 2010, WSDOT awarded a $306-million design-build contract to Eastside Corridor Constructors, a joint venture of Granite Construction Company and PCL Construction Services.

Full closures of SR 520 for construction are limited during the next two years. The completed Medina to Bellevue corridor is scheduled to open to traffic in December 2013.

A replacement six-lane SR 520 floating bridge is under construction on Lake Washington north of the existing floating bridge. When complete, it will have two general purpose lanes and a transit/HOV lane in each direction, as well as a bicycle-pedestrian path on the north side. The target date for opening the bridge to traffic is the end of 2014. WSDOT awarded a $586.6 million construction contract in 2011 to Kiewit/General/Manson, a Joint Venture.

A worker guides one of the 42 girders being installed into place at the 84th Avenue Northeast Lid during the April 28 weekend SR 520 closure. COURTESY PHOTO, Washington State Department of Transportation

Crews dangle over the edge to construct a catwalk on the existing SR 520 Bridge east approach. COURTESY PHOTO, Washington State Department of Transportation