I-405 HOVs in Bellevue to close for 11 days

SEATTLE—High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes in both directions on Interstate 405 through Bellevue will be closed around-the-clock for 11 consecutive days beginning this weekend, the Washington State Department of Transportation (DOT) announced Tuesday.

The northbound closure extends from approximately SE 8th Street to past NE 8th Street; the southbound HOV closure will be from approximately NE 12th to past NE 8th.

Dot officials said the closure enables construction crews to build a permanent foundation of the south half of the new NE 8th Bridge. The new bridge foundation, which will be constructed under a portion of the northbound and southbound HOV lanes, will support the permanent bridge structure.

This closure is the last of three scheduled around-the-clock closures of the HOV lane in both directions of I-405 in Bellevue.

The first scheduled closure in September 2002 was originally planned for nine days, but was avoided after the contractor was able to reduce the size of the required working space and avoided closing the lanes. The second closure was also a nine-day closure and the contractor applied additional work crews and completed preparatory work in advance, cutting the closure duration almost by half.

This closure is planned for 11 days because access to the work area is more limited, now that half of the new permanent structure is in place. A major system of utilities also exists beneath the work area, so crews must take extra care in how they build the new foundation.

"Our contractor, Atkinson Construction has proven successful in avoiding or shortening previous HOV lane closures, thereby earning financial incentives built into the project contract,” Dave Becher, WSDOT construction project engineer, said. "We're optimistic that Atkinson will take the same aggressive approach with this closure.”

The NE 8th interchange reconstruction project is part of a $164 million, multi-agency partnership between Sound Transit, City of Bellevue, WSDOT, King County Metro and the Federal Highway Administration. Access Downtown will add a new interchange at Northeast Sixth Street for buses and carpools, giving buses direct access to an expanded Bellevue Transit Center.

It will improve freeway interchanges at Northeast Fourth, Northeast Eighth and Southeast Eighth streets.

Washington State Department of Transportation release, June 10

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