Local Community

The Local Community & ASUWB

ASUWB strives to stay up to date with local community updates, events, and important information to bring back to UW Bothell students. Check this page periodically for up to date information!

Please email Jodi St. George, ASUWB Director of Public Relations, with anything you suggest adding to this page or with inquiries for more information at jstgeorge@uwb.edu.

Downtown Bothell Construction & Road Updates

Bothell Crossroads SR 522 Realignment

NOVEMBER 2012

Project Description

The Bothell Crossroads project realigns State Route 522 to the south between Hall Rd and 102nd Ave NE. The highway will consist of two travel lanes in each direction, left turn lanes, and sidewalks separated from traffic by tree-lined medians. Connecting streets (NE 180th St, 98th Ave NE, and SR 527) will be extended to reach the new alignment and provide pedestrians additional opportunities to move between downtown and the Park at Bothell Landing. The existing intersection of SR 522 and SR 527 performs poorly and is expected to degrade further without action. Today, over 44,000 vehicles pass though this intersection daily. This project will improve traffic congestion and increase safety on this critical commute and freight corridor both now and into the future.

Work Completed to Date

Preload Embankments are continuing through the settlement period.  So far, settlements up to 1.0 foot have been recorded at some locations.  The settlement period could be completed as early as January 2013.  Underground utilities (water, sewer and drainage) continue south of SR 522 on a periodic basis.  The work is proceeding as quickly as it can in order to limit the amount of high groundwater expected during the rainy season.  However, there is still some dewatering to contend with as well as working in areas of special handling and disposal of contaminated soils.

Joint utility trench construction has continued through the project south of the existing SR 522.  Several franchise utilities including PSE, Comcast, Frontier, ELI/Integra and UW Cascadia share a vested interest in its construction.  Coordination between all parties can be challenging, but all have worked well together to see the completion of over 50,000 linear feet of conduit be installed in order to underground utilities in the downtown area.  Most of the utility vaults have been installed to date, and conduit placement is moving forward quickly.

The construction of the pre-cast concrete culvert was completed last month. Check out the video to the right to watch its time-lapsed construction progress. The first phase of a separate 13-foot arch pipe culvert also crossing SR 522 has begun near existing Horse Creek.

Scheduled Roadway Construction Activities

November will see the completion of Phase I of the arch pipe culvert; backfilling of the precast box culvert; and joint utility construction and other underground utilities will continue south of SR 522.
 
Construction of Retaining Wall No. 1 will also begin the second week of November.  The rest of vegetation grubbing, excavation and installation of blocks are scheduled to be nearly complete by the end of the month.

Anticipated Traffic Impacts

Nighttime lane closures will resume for the joint utility construction across NE 180th St, 98th Ave NE, Bothell Way NE, and 101st Ave NE. This will require excavation within the existing roadway which is anticipated to cause noticeable construction noise throughout the night for 1 - 2 weeks starting the last week of November.
 
When the need arises, nighttime lane closures will generally occur from 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., and daytime closures will occur from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.  Current and upcoming lane closure information continues to be posted as necessary on the right side of the screen under "Traffic Impacts." 

Lane Closure
Monday 11/26 - Friday 11-29 : 1 lane closed during daytime work (9AM - 3PM)

This project plans to close one eastbound SR 522 lane between Hall Road and NE 180th St the week of Mon 11/26 to accommodate a block wall being installed.