Traffic

All traffic diverted to new 520 bridge

The new 520 bridge is open to eastbound commuters Monday, shutting down the old 520 bridge for good.

Both bridges were closed this weekend as crews finished the process of routing both directions of traffic onto the new floating bridge.

Drivers headed westbound have been driving across the new bridge for the past two weeks.

But just because the new bridge is open doesn’t mean the work is over.

"This isn’t the end of it,” said Steve Peer with the Washington State Department of Transportation.

The state will begin tearing down the old bridge -- built in the 1960s – immediately.

On Monday, they’ll begin to take steps to start recycling the structure, Peer said.

They’re going to demolish the concrete roadway and support columns and then float the old pontoons out of the lake.

By the end of the year, the old bridge will be nothing but a memory.

This story was written by KIRO 7 Webstaff and MyNorthwest.com. You can access more articles from them by following this link

0