Washington State Route 520

State Route 520
Map of Seattle and the Eastside, with SR 520 highlighted in red
Route information
Auxiliary route of I‑5
Defined by RCW 47.17.720
Maintained by WSDOT
Length:	12.82 mi[1] (20.63 km)
Existed:	1964[2] – present
Major junctions
West end:	I‑5 in Seattle
	I‑405 in Bellevue
East end:	SR 202 in Redmond
Location
Counties:	King
Highway system
State highways in Washington Interstate US State Scenic Former PSH 1964 renumbering Former ← SR 519 SR 522 →

State Route 520 (SR 520) is a state highway and freeway in the Seattle metropolitan area, part of the U.S. state of Washington. It runs 13 miles (21 km) from Seattle in the west to Redmond in the east. SR 520, a major regional freeway, connects Seattle to the Eastside region of King County via the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, which crosses Lake Washington. SR 520 intersects several state highways, including Interstate 5 (I-5) in Seattle, Interstate 405 (I-405) in Bellevue, and SR 202 in Redmond.

Cross-lake travel was originally facilitated by ferries between Seattle and Kirkland. The opening of the original Lake Washington Floating Bridge in 1940 and the original Evergreen Point Floating Bridge in 1963 put the ferries out of service and enabled the development of the Eastside into a bedroom community. SR 520 was designated in 1964 as a freeway connecting I-5 to I-405, while an extension to Redmond was proposed later in the decade. In the 1970s, sections of the freeway between Bellevue and Redmond were opened to traffic, replacing the temporary designation of State Route 920 (SR 920).

Since the 1990s, SR 520 has been expanded with high-occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV lanes) and collector-distributor lanes. The original Evergreen Point Floating Bridge was replaced in 2016 by a new bridge, as part of a multi-billion dollar expansion program that is scheduled to be completed in the early 2020s.

Route description

SR 520 begins at an interchange with Interstate 5 (I-5) in northern Seattle near Roanoke Park. The interchange provides access to both directions of I-5 as well as a westbound offramp to Harvard Avenue and Roanoke Street.^[3] SR 520 travels east across the south end of Portage Bay and its wetlands on the Portage Bay Viaduct, entering the Montlake neighborhood. In Montlake, the highway intersects Montlake Boulevard (SR 513) and Lake Washington Boulevard just south of the University of Washington campus and Husky Stadium. The freeway continues east on a causeway through the marshlands of Union Bay and Foster Island, at the north end of the Washington Park Arboretum. It passes through a second interchange with Lake Washington Boulevard, which includes several "ghost ramps" that were planned for the cancelled R.H. Thomson Expressway.^[4][5]

From Seattle, SR 520 crosses Lake Washington on the tolled Evergreen Point Floating Bridge; at 7,710 feet (2,350 m), it is the longest floating bridge in the world. The freeway reaches the other end of Lake Washington in northern Medina, traveling under a lidded park and next to a median bus station. After an interchange and lid at 84th Avenue Northeast in Hunts Point, SR 520 travels eastward around the northern edge of Clyde Hill in a north-facing arc, passing through the Yarrow Point lid and bus station. The freeway enters Bellevue, intersecting I-405 and crossing over the Eastside Rail Corridor. SR 520 continues along the north side of the Bel-Red industrial area and enters the Overlake area of Redmond.^[4]

Within Overlake, SR 520 turns north and passes through the Microsoft Redmond Campus and office parks belonging to other firms like Nintendo of America.^[6] The freeway crosses the Sammamish River and turns east, passing to the south of the Redmond Town Center mall and Bear Creek and to the north of Marymoor Park. East of downtown Redmond, SR 520 intersects SR 202 and terminates; the road continues north as Avondale Road towards Cottage Lake.^[4]

The SR 520 corridor is served by Sound Transit Express route 545, as well as King County Metro and Community Transit bus routes. Portions of the corridor from Evergreen Point to Redmond are also paralleled by a bicycle trail.

History

Settlements along the eastern shore of Lake Washington were established in the late 19th century by homesteaders, real estate developers, and industrialists.^[7] A ferry system was set up between towns on the lake and Seattle to the west in the 1880s; by 1913, the steam ferry Leschi was transporting passengers and automobiles between Seattle and docks in Bellevue, Kirkland, and Medina.^[8] In 1940, the Lake Washington Floating Bridge was opened between Seattle and Mercer Island, carrying the Sunset Highway (later I-90) from Seattle towards Bellevue and the Eastside. The new bridge allowed for the Eastside to rapidly develop into bedroom communities in the 1940s and 1950s;^[9] the bridge also replaced the ferry system, which ceased operation in 1950, shortly after the removal of tolls on the bridge.^[10][11]

In the late 1940s, the state government conducted a feasibility study for a second floating bridge across Lake Washington, in response to increased traffic on the bridge.^[10][12] In 1953, the Washington State Legislature approved the construction of a second floating bridge, using past and future tolls to fund its construction.^[13]:7

The original name of the freeway in planning documents was the Roanoke Expressway and later the Roanoke Freeway, due to its terminus at Interstate 5 near Roanoke Street and Roanoke Park in Seattle.

Planning

Aerial view of the original SR-520 bridge crossing Lake Washington, viewed from southwest.

SR-520 first appears on planning maps in the late 1950s. It is not in the 1956 Comprehensive Plan of Seattle, in which the preferred second bridge crossing of Lake Washington connects Sand Point and Juanita (now part of Kirkland).

In the 1963 and 1967 revisions of the King County Streets and Highways Plan, SR-520 appears in its entirety. The segment from I-5 to I-405 is shown as existing or "to be improved"; the segment from I-405 to SR-202 is shown as "proposed".

The 1967 Puget Sound Regional Council of Governments recommended freeway system omits the segment from I-405 to SR-202, replacing it with a freeway from the Sand Point-Kirkland bridge (then proposed as a third Lake Washington crossing) along the current route of SR-908, deviating southward near West Lake Sammamish Parkway to end at the current SR-520 terminus. In this plan, SR-520 ends at I-405.

All planning maps from 1974 onward show the SR-520 routing as it currently exists.^[14]

Construction

With the completion of the original Evergreen Point Floating Bridge in August 1963, SR-520 opened to traffic. Originally, it was legislatively defined as PSH-1 EP (Primary State Highway 1, Evergreen Point branch). The road was signed as PSH-1 without the branch designation.

When the new numbering system for Washington highways took effect in 1964, SR-520 ran from I-5 to the junction of Lake Washington Boulevard NE and Lincoln Avenue (now Bellevue Way).

The junction for SR-520 along I-405 in Bellevue.

Aerial view of the former Evergreen Point Floating Bridge's eastern section, seen in 2008

The segment from I-405 to 148th Avenue NE opened in the early 1970s. In the mid-1970s, the segment between West Lake Sammamish Parkway and SR-202 opened with the route number State Route 920 as a Super-2 freeway. This segment was widened to a divided 4-lane freeway by 1990.

The final segment of SR-520 between 148th Avenue NE and West Lake Sammamish Parkway opened c. 1979. At this time, SR-920 was redesignated as SR-520.

In 1973, the right-side shoulder of westbound SR-520 from Bellevue Way to the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge was converted for use as a transit-only lane, so that buses could bypass the tollbooths for the bridge. The existing general-purpose lanes were narrowed to accommodate the conversion. In the late 1980s, the lane was redesignated as a HOV lane for carpools of 3 or more, in addition to transit use.

In the 1990s, both sides of SR-520 from the I-405 interchange to W Lake Sammamish Parkway were widened to add a HOV lane on both sides, and collector-distributor lanes were added from NE 40th Street to W Lake Sammamish Parkway. A new interchange was built at NE 40th Street to accommodate expansion of the Microsoft and Nintendo of America corporate campuses.

The Evergreen Point Floating Bridge was replaced by a new floating bridge at the same site in 2016.

State Route 920

State Route 920 was a temporary designation of what is now part of State Route 520 between West Lake Sammamish Parkway - known at the time as State Route 901, and State Route 202 in Redmond. The original roadway was a 4 lane undivided link road between the two highways. SR 520 had only been completed to 148th Ave NE when SR 920 was constructed. When the missing link between 148th Ave NE and SR 901 was completed in the early 1980s, SR 920 was replaced by the SR 520 designation. However upon completion, there was a short section crossing SR 901 where SR 520 narrowed to one lane, and then immediately back to two. This section of SR 520 was widened and a new interchange was built at the junction of SR 520, SR 202, and Avondale Road - the former eastern terminus of SR 920.^[15]

Completed projects

• The flyover ramp from westbound State Route 202 to SR-520 opened in Spring 2008.
• SR-520 between Bellevue Way and the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge was paved with several types of quiet asphalt pavement as a test bed in Fall 2007.
• Ramps connecting the end of SR-520 from SR-202 to Avondale Road were completed in 1996.
• An overpass was constructed connecting NE 36th Street and NE 31st Street on the Microsoft campus. The bridge was completed in December 2010. Microsoft provided almost half of the funding for this bridge.^[16]

Corridor improvement program

Since 2011, the Washington State Department of Transportation has undertaken a $4.56 billion megaproject to improve the State Route 520 corridor, known as the SR 520 Bridge Replacement and HOV Program, through the replacement of existing structures and widening the freeway to accommodate high-occupancy vehicle lanes in the center of the roadway. The project entails replacement of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge with a newer bridge at the same location, which was completed in April 2016,^[17] as well as new approach structures and interchanges on both sides of Lake Washington. The project also built facilities for buses and non-motorized modes (mainly pedestrians and cyclists), including median bus stations on the Eastside, new park lids on the Eastside, and a new mixed-use bike and pedestrian trail on the bridge.^[18] Initially, only the floating bridge replacement, replacement of the west approaches and Eastside bus station replacement and lid construction; the 2015 session of the Washington State Legislature approved funding for the remaining portion in Seattle, mainly the rebuilding of the Montlake Boulevard interchange, replacement and widening of the Portage Bay Bridge, a parallel span for the Montlake Bridge, and new freeway lids in Roanoke and Montlake.^[19]

As part of the funding of the program, electronic tolling began on the old floating bridge on December 29, 2011.^[20]

Other planned improvements

• Freeway expansion to 8 lanes (2 general-purpose/1 HOV/1 auxiliary lane per side) between West Lake Sammamish Parkway and State Route 202, along with widening existing ramps between SR-202 and Avondale Road to 2 lanes.)
• Eastbound collector-distributor lanes between Interstate 405 and 124th Avenue NE as part of I-405 braided-ramp improvements between NE 8th Street and SR-520 in Bellevue.

Proposed improvements

• A flyover ramp from westbound SR-520 to southbound Interstate 405 is currently deferred due to lack of construction funds.
• The Sound Transit 2 proposal would add a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line to the entire SR-520 corridor, and a light rail extension joining the corridor in the vicinity of Overlake, continuing to the Overlake Transit Center on the Microsoft campus.

Ghost ramps

Ghost Ramps at SR-520

SR 520 has a set of ghost ramps in the marshlands of Washington Park Arboretum. They are often referred to as "ramps to nowhere". However, one ramp is currently used for the on ramp to SR 520 Eastbound. The others are unused. They were originally part of a plan to build the R. H. Thomson Expressway which would have cut through the arboretum and down through Seattle towards the I-90/I-5 interchange. Citizens rallied a freeway revolt against the plan on May 4, 1969. Construction near the Arboretum later continued but citizen protest eventually won out and the plan was dropped in 1971.

The freeway revolt that stopped the R. H. Thomson Expressway had its origins in opposition to SR 520 itself. Architect Victor Steinbrueck, writing in 1962, objected to the "naked brutality of unimaginative structures such as this proposed crossing of Portage Bay, which eliminates fifty houseboats while casting its shadow and noise across this tranquil boat haven."^[21]

In 2013 the Washington State Department of Transportation announced plans to dismantle the ghost ramps.^[22] To commemorate the ramps and protest their demolition, a local art collective created an installation, Gate to Nowhere, on one of the ramps in 2014.^[23][24] The piece consists of a layer of reflective acrylic wrapping a pair of support columns.^[25]

In the spring of 2016, some of the SR 520 ghost ramps have begun to be dismantled to make way for the construction of a new causeway linking the new floating bridge to the mainland.

Exit list

The entire highway is in King County. All exits are unnumbered.

Location	mi[1]	km	Destinations	Notes
Seattle	0.00– 0.36	0.00– 0.58	I‑5 – Portland, Vancouver BC	Western terminus
	0.36	0.58	Roanoke Street / Harvard Avenue	Westbound exit only
	0.73– 1.43	1.17– 2.30	Montlake Boulevard (SR 513) – University of Washington	Last eastbound exit before toll
	1.56	2.51	Lake Washington Boulevard	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
Lake Washington	1.63– 3.98	2.62– 6.41	SR 520 Albert D. Rosellini Evergreen Point Floating Bridge
Hunts Point	4.35	7.00	84th Avenue Northeast	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
Clyde Hill	5.39	8.67	92nd Avenue Northeast	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance. Last westbound exit before toll.
Bellevue	5.60	9.01	Lake Washington Boulevard Northeast / Bellevue Way	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; former SR 908
	6.52	10.49	108th Avenue Northeast	No eastbound exit
	6.69– 7.05	10.77– 11.35	I‑405 – Renton, Everett
	7.34	11.81	124th Avenue Northeast	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
	8.73– 9.00	14.05– 14.48	148th Avenue Northeast
Redmond	9.71– 11.21	15.63– 18.04	Northeast 40th Street / Northeast 51st Street
	11.45– 12.04	18.43– 19.38	West Lake Sammamish Parkway Northeast	Former SR 901
	12.25	19.71	SR 202 (Redmond Way)	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
	12.82	20.63	Avondale Road	Continuation beyond SR 202
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       ETC       Incomplete access

Gallery

• 
  SR 520 looking south from the N.E. 51st Street overpass. Mount Rainier is in the background.
• 
  SR 520 seen from the observation deck of the water tower in Volunteer Park in Capitol Hill.

Related routes

References

External links

• Highways of Washington State
• Photos of SR 520's ghost ramps
• NE 36th Street overpass project home
• I-405 NE 8th Street to SR-520 project home
• W Lake Sammamish Pky to SR-202 project home