SR 520 Bridge to be fully closed this weekend

Both directions of the State Route 520 Bridge are fully closed this weekend.

During the closure, drivers should expect heavy traffic on Interstate 90, especially before and after Sunday’s Seahawks game at 1:25 p.m.

Previous closures have caused huge backups.

The closure between Interstate 5 and 92nd Avenue Northeast started at 11 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 6, and ends at 5 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 9.

During the closure, crews will place girders for the Montlake lid and pour concrete for the new eastbound bridge over Union Bay.

The SR 520 Trail will remain open.

State officials say this weekend’s closure kicks off an “unprecedented” construction year that will bring closures to many Puget Sound area freeways in 2023.

“This weekend is really the tip of the iceberg,” said Steve Peer of the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Expect three or four major closures on SR 520 this year, and also closures near the I-90/SR 18 interchange as workers start rebuilding it.

WSDOT officials say the widening project on I-405 between Renton and Bellevue will bring more closures, as will Revive I-5 work stretching between the King-Pierce County line and Everett.

The Montlake section of SR 520 should be done in about a year.

Groundbreaking for the final section of the SR 520 corridor rebuild, between Montlake and I-5, is expected in 2024, with construction lasting six or seven years.

©2023 Cox Media Group