West Lake Sammamish Parkway Slide Repair Work Completed

West Lake Sammamish Parkway's emergency repairs after a mudslide undermined the road between Northeast Second and Northup Way to Southeast 26nd Street are completed and the roadway is now open to traffic, the city of Bellevue reported.

Though West Lake Sammamish Parkway is reopen after the emergency repair, the neighborhood will still see construction. The city had  on 164th Avenue between Northeast Eighth and Southeast 14th streets. The project had been planned for March through July.

West Lake Sammamish closed Jan. 22 , and damaged residential property between the road and Lake Sammamish. No one was injured in the slide, but the slide and broken water main left a gaping hole exposing the underside of West Lake Sammamish.

The city accepted responsibility for the mudslide and the damage to the residential properties, though it had not been determined whether the slide caused the water main to break, or if the broken water main caused the slide, said city spokesman David Grant. The repair cost for the road and water main had been estimated at $500,000.

Traffic was detoured through the neighborhood onto 164th, until the sewer construction project was slated to begin in March.

The city reported earlier that the sewer project timeline could not easily be shifted, despite the issues with traffic:

While the detour change may cause some inconvenience until West Lake Sammamish Parkway reopens, it’s important that the city’s utility work begin this month to stay on schedule in conjunction with Puget Sound Energy’s recent installation of new gas lines. Both projects need to be completed ahead of a city overlay project, which has been scheduled since 2008. The gas line work was completed in 2011. Residents will be informed about pavement resurfacing construction start and end dates later this summer.

During West Lake Sammamish's closure, residents complained on our Facebook page about detoured motorists driving at high speed through the residential neighborhood.

"We live just off of 164th and this has been a nightmare. Cars come speeding down SE 16th then turn north on 164th. No turn signals, no attention to the (two) crosswalks that take kids to the local elementary school, no attention to the speed limit. We've had to change our route in the morning to avoid this nightmare and even still we've had many close calls with cars turning left in front of us as we drive east on SE 16th," wrote Dawn Rogal.