Five months ahead of schedule, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) celebrated the completion of the SR 520 widening project in Redmond today.

This week, crews pulled the barrels and opened the new two eastbound lanes on SR 520 between West Lake Sammamish Parkway and SR 202. The westbound lanes opened last month.

One happy commuter already emailed WSDOT. “Just a quick note to let you know that my commute is soooo much better. The west bound commute on Friday morning was so much faster. It generally took about 20 minutes or more to go from the intersection at Novelty and Avondale to the 520 entrance. On Friday, I made it in about 5! Yea!!”

“This is a chronic bottleneck,” said Randy Simonsen, WSDOT Engineering Manager. “Depending on the time of day, it can take 15 minutes to go that last mile and a half on SR 520 east of West Lake Sammamish Parkway.”

State gas-tax dollars paid for the $81 million congestion relief project, and PCL Construction Services was the general contractor.

Moving Washington campaign

“This stretch of 520 is precisely the direction we are headed with the Moving Washington strategy,” said Washington State Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond. “The strategy includes adding capacity, operating the lanes we have more efficiently and managing demand by supporting alternatives to driving or driving alone.”

WSDOT added more lanes in Redmond to strategically expand SR 520’s capacity. Traffic engineers are making the highway more efficient with new Smarter Highways signs, which already are reducing traffic-jamming collisions on SR 520 and I-5.

The improvements on SR 520 do more than just add two new lanes to a stretch of road that carries more than 75,000 vehicles each day. They also help manage demand by adding carpool lanes which will improve transit and carpool reliability.

520 Redmond project details

During construction, crews:

• Added two westbound lanes between SR 202 and West Lake Sammamish Parkway.

• Added a second lane between Avondale and SR 202.

• Added two eastbound lanes including an HOV lane between West Lake Sammamish Parkway and SR 202.

• Rebuilt on and off ramps at West Lake Sammamish Parkway with improved merge zones to reduce collisions.

• Added two new lanes to the east end of SR 520 just west of Union Hill Road.

• Added one lane to the eastbound SR 202 off-ramp.

• Extended the westbound HOV lane entrance to West Lake Sammamish Parkway (1/2 mile farther east).

• Linked the eastbound carpool lane in Bellevue to a new carpool lane that goes to Redmond Way.

• Added storm drain and water treatment systems, more than two miles of safety guardrail, more than a mile of concrete barrier and a lighting system.

The project was scheduled for completion in April 2011, but collaboration between PCL and WSDOT helped crews complete the work nearly five months ahead of schedule. More details about the project can be found here.

Part of a bigger plan

In 1994, WSDOT designed a series of projects that doubled the number of lanes at the east end of SR 520 and increased capacity along SR 202 to Sahalee Way. Through a series of special funding packages, including the 2003 and 2005 gas taxes, WSDOT was able to get the work done.

“This is really the last in a series of projects that date back to 1994,” said Lorena Eng, WSDOT regional administrator. “We recognized this corridor as a key commute route years ago and developed a long-term plan to make improvements little by little, as we got the money.”

What’s next for SR 520

Commuters and travelers on SR 520 will continue to see more traffic and safety improvements in weeks, months and years to come.

Next year: In early 2011, WSDOT and Eastside Corridor Constructors will begin construction on a $306 million project to improve the highway between Medina and Bellevue. When complete, the project is expected to reduce travel times for buses and carpools and improve safety, access and reliability in the corridor. More information is online.

In coming years: WSDOT also is designing and building a new SR 520 floating bridge, which is scheduled to open in 2014. More information is online.