SEATTLE — Travelers between Seattle and the Eastside should prepare for another weekend of delays.
State Route 520 between Interstate 5 in Seattle and 92nd Avenue Northeast in Clyde Hill will shut down to motor vehicle traffic. SR 520 will close at 11:59 p.m. Friday, Sept. 29 until 5:00 a.m. Monday, Oct. 2.
The closure will include some changes to accommodate Mariners fans. One lane and the ramps to and from Montlake Boulevard will open in each direction from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 30 and Sunday, Oct. 1.
These closures are a part of the SR 520 Montlake project. The Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) says the end of this phase is near. The three-acre lid covering SR 520 is expected to be completed in February or March of 2024.
Renate and Berry Pinch have lived off Montlake Boulevard for decades. For the past few years, their morning walks have been alongside construction crews building that lid.
“It was a lot of noise at night. I'm sad because they took the giant trees from the boulevard out and I don't feel like that was a necessary thing to do at all, “said Renate. “It changed the livability. They made it worse. It used to have much better traffic flow, even with the influx of more people. It's become more difficult to get from here to cross the bridge from our house.”
Steve Peer with WSDOT says living in this area has been tough, but the end is in sight.
“This is a different kind of construction project. We're not just building roads. This (SR 520) was seismically vulnerable and now it's much more sturdy,” said Peer. “It's more multimodal, so it's not just about cars. It's about ATVs and bicycles and connecting a community that used to be disconnected.”
Slowly new features are opening. Crews finished a new westbound on-ramp to Montlake and eastbound lanes between Montlake and the floating bridge.
KING 5 got a first look at what that lid will look like when the project wraps up next year.
“The last six months, there's a lot of puzzle pieces that come into place. The lid doesn't have any dirt on it. For example, it just looks like a concrete slab. So that's going to be beautified,” said Peer. “A lot of the tie-ins for the ramps going to and from Montlake needs to be done. There's a whole fire suppression system that goes under the lid in case there's a fire.”
Peer says crews will be under the lid installing that suppression system this weekend.
Peer says when this phase of the project is completed next year, the lid will reconnect the neighborhood that was cut in half in the 60s when SR 520 was put in.
“It’s going to be a new day in a new way, so to speak. And I think people are going to like it,” added Peer.
The Pinches are holding out hope, but they have another concern.
“I worry about the fact that homeless people are going to take advantage of it. And there's going to be more graffiti everywhere. It's not going to be maintained. I don't know if it's going to be safe,” said Berry. We’ll have to see how that develops.”
Right now, WSDOT has four to six more SR 520 closures and three to five Montlake Boulevard closures planned through the end of the year.