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Presidential visit, I-90 construction will make for traffic nightmare

By Graham Johnson
By Graham Johnson
The commute across Lake Washington next week will be bad enough because of construction on I-90.

SEATTLE — Now, throw in a presidential visit.

On Friday, KIRO 7 confirmed President Barack Obama will travel to Jim Sinegal's Hunts Point house on Tuesday for a fundraiser.

Presumably, the president will travel over the 520 bridge, closing it.
Details of the president's travel plans have not been released, and will not be because of security concerns, making it hard for WSDOT to plan for it. 

Westbound I-90 will be reduced to one lane near Bellevue Way from 9:30 p.m. Friday, July 18 to 5 a.m. Friday, July 25. When the closure happened a few minutes ahead of schedule, traffic backed up badly for about two hours.

Follow this link to see a guide to the Interstate 90 closure.

Westbound traffic will be reduced to a one lane at Bellevue Way while crews replace aging expansion joints on the East Channel Bridge between Bellevue and Mercer Island.

"I think it's going to be a madhouse," said Marly Moultrie.

Moultrie isn't going to bother commuting next week to her job in Bellevue from her home in Seattle.
She's planning to stay with a friend on the Eastside.
"There's no way I'm going to sit in traffic for hours," Moultrie said.

The Washington State Department of Transportation says drivers should plan for an extra hour in their commutes.

The whole situation is expected to be so bad Wendell Miller is just taking the week off so he doesn't have to commute from Bellevue to his job at Boeing Field.

"I had time to take during the summer, and now's as good a time as any, so we're taking a week off," Miller said.

WSDOT urges people to avoid the drive entirely if they can.

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