State Route 520, Novelty Hill Road to close over the weekend
Published 12:23 pm Wednesday, August 24, 2011
People need to prepare for some gridlock this weekend as there will be notable road closures west and east of Redmond.
Travelers heading to a video game convention, sporting events and a 10k race in Seattle can expect major traffic congestion as construction crews close State Route 520.
In addition, a portion of Northeast Novelty Hill Road, just east of the city limits, will also be closed this weekend as part of King County’s Northeast Novelty Hill Road project.
SR-520 will close between Montlake Boulevard in Seattle and Interstate 405 in Bellevue starting at 11 p.m. on Friday and reopening at 5 a.m. Monday.
Northeast Novelty Hill Road will close between the 19200 and 19700 blocks, starting at 9 p.m. Friday reopen at 4 a.m. Monday. This will be the first of three possible weekend road closures on Northeast Novelty Hill Road, according to Linda Thielke, King County public affairs specialist.
Workers will be adding approximately 40,000 tons of fill material to raise Novelty Hill Road about 15 feet in order to meet with the new 195th Avenue Northeast roundabout, Thielke said in an e-mail to the Redmond Reporter.
“The roadway will be paved and striped to provide two lanes of traffic once Novelty Hill Road is opened Monday morning,” Thielke said.
Thielke said the contractor has planned two other weekend closures along the same stretch of road on Northeast Novelty Road — one Sept. 9-12 and another Sept. 16-19. In both of these closures, there will be local access to 197th Circle Northeast, Thielke said.
SEATTLE EVENTS TO CAUSE MORE TRAFFIC
While the Northeast Novelty Hill Road will cause some local gridlock, the SR-520 closure will have a regional ripple effect, especially with several big events on tap in Seattle this weekend.
The heaviest traffic is expected midday Saturday and Sunday on interstates 5 and 90 heading into Seattle and on I-405 approaching I-90. The express lane schedules will change this weekend on I-5 and I-90 to help improve traffic flow.
“Crews need this weekend to finish major culvert and stream work before migrating fish return this fall,” said Brian Dobbins, WSDOT construction engineer for the SR-520 Eastside Transit and HOV Project. “Traffic conditions during these construction closures depend on drivers. We all need people to consider their options – leave early, take a different route, find a carpool buddy, take the bus or keep activities close to home.”
Several big events are expected to draw tens of thousands of people to Seattle this weekend:
• The three-day PAX Prime 2011 video game festival is at the Convention Center Friday through Sunday.
• The Seattle Marathon is holding a 10k race to and from Seattle Center Saturday morning, closing the northbound lanes of Highway 99 from the Battery Street Tunnel to the Aurora Bridge from 7:30-11 a.m., as well as other local streets.
• Sounders FC plays at 1 p.m. Saturday at CenturyLink Field.
• Mariners games are 7:10 p.m. Saturday and 1:10 p.m. Sunday at Safeco Field.
• The Seattle Storm plays at 6 p.m. Sunday at KeyArena.
Starting late Friday night, crews working on SR-520 will quickly dig a trench across all lanes near Yarrow Point to install the 230-foot-long steel culvert. The new culvert replaces a smaller structure that blocked migrating fish. Environmental permits only allow WSDOT to work in streams through the end of September to avoid harming migrating fish. This is the third of six new culverts that will cross under SR-520, improving access to habitat for salmon and a variety of fish.
In addition, work near Evergreen Point Road will result in a traffic shift on SR-520 when the highway reopens Monday morning. Eastbound andwestbound drivers will be required to follow a slight jog to the right around a new median work zone for construction of a landscaped lid above the highway.
For more information about King County projects or to sign up for construction alerts, visit www.kingcounty.gov.
For more information and alerts for state highway projects, visit www.wsdot.wa.gov.
