The cranes are gone and traffic went back on State Route 520 on Monday morning after a busy weekend of construction. Crews installed concrete girders and deck panels for lidded overpasses that will reconnect communities as part of an improved six-lane highway.

Forty huge concrete girders and nearly 300 concrete deck panels are now in place – 4 million pounds of progress at Bellevue Way and three lidded overpasses in the SR 520 corridor. If the weather cooperates this week, crews will switch local traffic to the new Evergreen Point Road lidded overpass, said Brian Dobbins, Washington State Department of Transportation SR 520 Eastside construction manager.

“Putting traffic on the new lid is a big milestone that sets us up to demolish the old, narrow Evergreen Point Road overpass in just two weeks,” Dobbins said. By December 2013, the new lidded overpass will have a park and ride, improving access to more reliable bus service in the highway median.

Construction on the Eastside project began in April 2011 and major highway closures are limited to nights and weekends to keep weekday commute traffic flowing. SR 520 closed Friday night from Montlake Boulevard across the floating bridge to Interstate 405 in Bellevue, allowing cranes to safely install 10 girders at Bellevue Way Northeast and 30 girders at 84th Avenue Northeast. Precast concrete deck panels were installed at future lidded overpasses at 92nd Avenue Northeast and Evergreen Point Road. The highway reopened before 5 a.m. Monday.

In just two weeks, construction again will completely close the SR 520 bridge and highway. Crews plan to close the highway March 9-12 from Montlake Boulevard in Seattle across the floating bridge to I-405 in Bellevue.

The 75-foot-long concrete girder weighs 36 tons and is rigged for the big lift at 84th Avenue Northeast.

– Washington State Department of Transportation