Freeway Closures on 520 and 405 Planned for This Weekend

This post originally written by Venice Buhain.

Plan ahead for a weekend of detours through Bellevue as both State Route 520 and northbound Interstate 405 through downtown Bellevue are slated to be closed for construction and maintenance projects.

The closure will be from 10 p.m. Friday, July 12, until 5 a.m. Monday, July 15, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.

The construction work on Interstate 405 will smooth out some of the rough patches of the freeway through Bellevue, according to the state. During this weekend's closure, crews will replace 50-year-old concrete panels on Interstate 405 in the two left lanes between SE Eighth and Main streets. The project also will include other panel replacements and concrete grinding later this summer.

On State Route 520, crews will inspect the bridge, and work on a culvert.

According to the state, the combined closures will decrease the time needed for nightly closures.

“Combining closures helps us limit summer weekend impacts on drivers while still allowing us to complete major work,” said WSDOT traffic engineer Mark Bandy, in a prepared statement. “Scheduling this type of work isn’t easy. It must be carefully coordinated with other regional construction projects and avoid weekends such as Seafair, the Bite of Seattle and Bellevue Arts Festival.”

The closure on 405 will start at 10 p.m. Friday and the 520 closure will start at 11 p.m. Friday. Both are slated to be reopen by 5 a.m. Monday.

What would you advise drivers to do this weekend, as Bellevue braces for the closure of these two freeways?