Politics & Government

State Route 520 Bridge Reopens After Girders Set for Medina Lid

Crews installed girders for future lid at Evergreen Point Road in Medina.

State Route 520 Bridge reopened Monday morning after a weekend closure that allowed crews to install the girders that will support a lid at Evergreen Point Road in Medina.

The lid will be one of three planned as part of the . The lid at Evergreen Point Road will incorporate a park and ride, a bus stop, and green space, at the place where there is currently a two-lane overpass.

"It makes that connection where the community was cut in half in the 1960s when 520 was built," said Brian Dobbins, Washington State Department of Transportation SR 520 Eastside construction manager.

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The state scheduled the complete closure of the bridge around the University of Washington football's game. The next weekend closure will be similarly scheduled.

The next full closure of the bridge will be the weekend of Nov. 5 - 7, which will start at 8 p.m. that Saturday to accommodate that weekend's University of Washington football game. During the November closure, set 24 more girders at Evergreen Point Road, according to a state press release.

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Construction on the lid will occur over the winter, Dobbins said.

About 75 workers were needed this weekend to create the median work zone on the highway and install two sizes of girders, according to a state press release. The smaller 70-foot-long girders each weighed approximately 48 tons and now span the eastbound lanes; the larger 142-foot-long girders each weighed approximately 106 tons and are above westbound traffic.

Also as part of the project, traffic was shifted shift around a new median work zone east of 84th Avenue Northeast, according to the state.

Next month's closure is the last full closure scheduled for 2011, though motorists can expect weekend closures throughout 2012 and 2013, said Washington State Department of Transportation spokesman Andrew Richardson. The project is expected to be complete by December 2013.

The project will:

  • Widen SR 520 and create carpool lanes in both directions.
  • Widen the shoulders, so disabled vehicles will not block the lanes of traffic.
  • Create three landscaped lids over SR 520, two with access to new transit stops.
  • Add a bike and pedestrian lane to SR 520.
  • Create environmental improvements, including improvements to streams and noise barriers.

Overall, the project is part of a $4.65 billion plan to improve SR 520. The state legislature decided that $2.37 billion of the amount will be paid through state and federal funding and tolls. The rest has yet to be determined. .


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