January 17

15th Avenue Bridge reopening just around the corner

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Who’s ready for the 15th Avenue Bridge to reopen to traffic?

Believe it or not, the yearlong wait is almost over, with the reopening scheduled for March, noted the most recent edition of the Maple Leaf Community newsletter (January/February/March 2011).

Kit Loo with the Seattle Department of Transportation has provided us and Pinehurst Seattle with more details to that timeline, explaining that although “the most difficult and challenging portions” of the project are completed, the March reopening date still isn’t a given.

Still in store is a new bridge overlay, which Loo says requires seven days of no rain or snow plus an ambient temperature above freezing. Hey, it could happen, but we just thought we’d warn you. Click the link below to see the complete text of Loo’s email:

At this time the most difficult and challenging portions of work, which is being done on the temporary suspended platforms below the bridge, is wrapping up.  The existing box girders have all been strengthened; the strengthening consisted of adding reinforcement steel, thickening the sides of the concrete box girders, and post-tensioning the entire bridge. These items were completed without much incident. Most of the remaining structural work, such as rebuilding the existing abutments, have also been completed. With most of the under-the-bridge work complete and some minor painting and utility relocation work scheduled to be completed by mid-January, the contractor expects to begin dismantling the suspended platform sometime at the end of this month. 

The removal of the suspended platform is expected to take several days to complete. As soon as the suspended platform is completely removed, the contractor will finalize the final deck preparation for placement of the new bridge deck overlay as well as the vehicle separation barrier. At this point the critical item would be the placement of the new bridge overlay, which is highly temperature and weather dependent. The contractor will need at least 7 clear days of no rain or snow with an ambient temperature above freezing in order to be able to place the final deck overlay. This critical project is on schedule for completion in March 2011, barring any weather-related issues. As we get closer toward determining when the deck overlay will be placed, we then work out the final details with Metro on when the buses will be re-routed back onto 15th Ave NE.

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  1. Thanks for the response David M! I should have been more wordy in my first post though.

    In my opinion, some easy work could be done to ‘clean up’ the uphill climb on 15th. Rework of the bridge isn’t necessary, but that asphalt sidewalk could be better! Sharrows are also a bad idea along this stretch because it would encourage bikers to be in the narrow road of death. I use 5th, or go around via 92nd to Greenlake and enjoy the extra mileage.

    But, I also drive a car. My preference for concrete, instead of asphalt, roadways is what initially directed my comment. Looked through the SDOT site and couldn’t find any wording re: the actual makeup of the work on the bridge.

    Any insight? Thanks!

  2. @Chris – We pushed for a lane , but they said there was no money and the environmental permits to expand the width of the bridge would have been difficult to acquire. We also asked for mid-lane sharrows and they said no.

    @MLL – Your tips@mapleleaflife.com email address is bouncing as “mailbox full” Just FYI.

  3. On the downside, wait for even more buglaries with the bridge open. Quicker egress N. & S. uuuuugh! Gonna miss the quiet times but love my morning bus back on 15th for sure!

  4. there’s already N/S bike lanes on 5th and Roosevelt Way, so don’t hold your breath for getting them on 15th. The city would need to widen the road to make it happen. and they couldn’t even get real sidewalks for us on 15th.

  5. Is there any word on whether the bridge deck will be all concrete? And why wasn’t an uphill bike path put on the west side of 15th? (not in the traffic lane)

  6. I don’t get how they could do the 45th st. overpass in such a shorter time… why has this taken a year, it’s only a few blocks long?!

  7. @Dave

    The article says its suppose to reopen in March, so let’s set the over/under at March 15th. I’ll take the over 🙂

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