Date:  Saturday, March 01, 2008

Contact: Hien Trinh, Project Engineer, 425-956-2100 (Bellevue)
Myly Posse, WSDOT Communications, 206-437-6314 (Seattle)

REDMOND – Without a hitch, crews working for WSDOT successfully connected the westbound SR 202 right lane to the new westbound SR 202 to SR 520 flyover ramp during this weekend's closure of westbound SR 202. Crews opened all lanes and the new ramp to traffic at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 1.

"Our crews allowed extra time in the schedule in case there were some rain showers to contend with. But Saturday weather was great and we were able to open the ramp well in advance of our Sunday morning target,” said Project Engineer Hien Trinh.

Redmond commuters will reap the full benefits of the new ramp on Monday morning. Westbound SR 202 drivers won’t be stuck in several miles of back-up as they wait to turn left at the NE 76th Street signal to access westbound SR 520. Instead, the right lane of westbound SR 202 will loop around to cross over SR 202 and connect directly to westbound SR 520.

“Drivers will still be able to take a left turn onto SR 520 at NE 76th next week,” said Trinh. “We expect a learning curve, even though we’ve installed signs directing drivers to the new ramp,” he said.

Crews have converted the double left-turn lanes on westbound SR 202 at NE 76th Street, to a single left-turn lane. They will keep it open for one week, giving drivers a chance to transition to the new ramp.

The new three-lane flyover ramp includes a ramp meter and an HOV lane, which bypasses the meter. Traffic engineers have not activated the new ramp meter. They will monitor the ramp and turn the meter on when it becomes necessary to manage vehicles merging from the NE 76th street on-ramp to westbound SR 520, or to address congestion on SR 520.

This work is part of the SR 520 - West Lake Sammamish Parkway to SR 202 Widening project. Through this $102.3 million project, we will widen SR 520 from two to four lanes in each direction. For more details about the project, please visit the Web site at: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR520/WLakeSamPk_SR202/
 

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