The Washington Department of Transportation is hoping for an October opening of the SR 99 tunnel, but cautions a lot has to happen between now and then.
Crews recently marked a major milestone in the construction of the of the SR 99 tunnel.
The final panel of the northbound roadway was lowered into place. That means the roadways in both directions are now completed.
Contractor Seattle Tunnel Partners estimates that it will finish actual construction of the tunnel in mid-August. However, after the tunnel work is complete, WSDOT needs to realign SR 99 as well as on and off ramps. If the contractor’s work remains on schedule, WDOT hopes to open the new tunnel this fall.
David Sowers, Deputy Administrator for the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Program for the Washington State Department of Transportation says there should be more clarity by May as to whether that target would be met.
The WSDOT released a video of the crews putting the last panel in place on Tuesday and gave reporters a tour of the progress so far.
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There is also a lot of road work to connect the tunnel to the existing Highway 99. That will take weeks, and require a three-week shutdown of the Viaduct. Expect a traffic nightmare. Sowers says as soon as the connection is made, the tunnel will open to traffic... again, estimated as soon as October.
While the roadways are installed, just under 50 percent of the "systems" are in place inside the tunnel itself, says Susan Everett, WSDOT program Design Manager who is handling the commissioning of the tunnel.
Those systems include everything from lighting to fire suppression, to multiple ventilation
systems
to a network of 300 cameras, to the computers that help manage it all. Everett says there are some 3,000 devices involved.The systems will be tested three times before the tunnel is opened to make sure the thousands of components work together properly. Much of that testing has already started.
When it's finished, WSDOT claims the tunnel will be one of the 'smartest' ever built.
