West Lake Sammamish Parkway Gets New Detour

West Lake Sammamish commuters, already detoured through the neighborhoods after emergency road construction, will get a new detour next week for scheduled replacement of aging water pipes, the City of Bellevue reported.

While West Lake Sammamish Parkway is set to reopen by mid-April, construction work on replacing water pipes on 164th Avenue between Northeast Eighth and Southeast 14th streets will change the current detour through the neighborhood.

West Lake Sammamish Parkway was closed Jan. 22 , and damaged residential property between the road and Lake Sammamish.

With the redesign complete and the necessary property easements in place, construction began last week.

However, previously scheduled construction on the water pipes on the current detour will go from March 19 to June or July, according to the city's press release.

The detour traffic will be rerouted from 164th and 168th avenues to 148th or 156th avenues, the city reported.

Local access will continue for residents along 164th and electronic message boards will advise drivers of the new utility project on 164th.

The city reported that the project timeline cannot easily be shifted:

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.