I-405, Totem Lake/Northeast 128th Street HOV direct access/freeway station


Project description:

WSDOT, working with Sound Transit, has begun work on the construction of the HOV on- and off-ramps along the Interstate 405 corridor at Northeast 128th Street in the Totem Lake area of Kirkland. This is one of nine HOV/direct access projects in the Puget Sound region to improve express bus service between regional urban centers. These projects are largely funded by Sound Transit and are constructed by WSDOT.

I-405 transports approximately 150,000 vehicles a day in and around the Kirkland area. Currently, buses, vanpools and carpools traveling the I-405 HOV lanes and the Kingsgate Park and Ride have to cross three lanes of traffic to enter and exit the freeway at the bustling Northeast 124th Street interchange. As vehicles merge in and out of traffic, exit and enter the freeway, and slow and speed through this area, a greater chance of accidents occurs.

The Totem Lake freeway station project will provide improved access to the HOV lanes by adding a direct ramp. The new ramp will decrease congestion on freeway ramps as carpools, buses and vanpools will no longer be merging in and out of traffic.

Some of the other elements of the project include: new steel plate girder undercrossings; retaining wall construction; utility relocation; erosion control and seeding; traffic control; pond excavation; storm sewer pipe construction; a pedestrian barrier with sidewalk; traffic barriers; tree planting; construction of a roadway deck, covered walkway, bus stops and flyer stops; an illumination system; a ramp meter system; and a closed-circuit television system.

Crews will use fill materials that will not erode in heavy rain, which will help fish in area streams and will allow work to continue during wet weather. Water quality treatment ponds will be built to help filter construction runoff and runoff from the freeway when construction is complete.

Address: MP 20.04-21.27 on I-405, Totem Lake area

Cost: $42.02 million (award amount)

Type of contract: Hard bid

Start of construction: June 17, 2005

Expected completion date: Summer 2007

Contractor: Max J. Kuney Co.,
120 N. Ralph St.,
Spokane, WA 99202,
(509) 535-0651

Engineer: Carl Barker, WSDOT

Owner: Washington State Department of Transportation

Project participants:

Agra Foundations — Apex Steel — Apply-A-Line — B&G Trucking — Bobby Wolford Trucking & Salvage — Brother’s Trucking — Brundage-Bone Concrete Pumping — Clear Water Compliance Services — Clifford Trucking — Concrete Barrier — Concrete Technology — Del Shull Inc. — Del Shull Trucking — Diversified Northwest — DJ & Sons Trucking — Elcon — Eversons’s Econo-Vac — Gloria Jeane Hauling — Inca Engineers — Interstate Painting — Jeff Johnson Excavating — Jobsite Stud Welding — Johnson Western Gunite Co. — John-Wayne Construction Co. — KLB Construction — KSI Transport — Lakeside Industries — Lakeside Transfer — Lochman Trucking — Max J. Kuney Co. — Meko Construction — Mic Mar Trucking — Ms. Lloyd Inc. — Mt. St. Helen’s Fence — Ness Trucking — Northwest Boring Co. — Northwest Cascade — Northwest Concrete Cutting — Northwest Tile & Coatings — Oltman Trucking — Paul’s Trucking — Petersen Brothers — Rainier Steel — Rainier Welding — Ralph’s Concrete Pumping — Sawtooth Trucking — Snohomish Tree Service — Sound Transit — Terra Dynamics — Trenchless Construction Services — V. Van Dyke Trucking — Versatile Drilling Contractors


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