Photos courtesy WSDOT A new right-turn lane holds 40 to 50 cars so they don’t have to wait for the light to turn green to head down Sahalee Way.

Project description: More than 27,000 vehicles commute daily between downtown Redmond and the Sammamish Plateau using state Route 202. Every day, congestion and merging traffic puts commuters at risk of an accident. The state Department of Transportation, working with Tri State Construction, is widening 3 miles of Route 202 from state Route 520 in Redmond to Sahalee Way in rural King County. A new wetland is being created at the corner of Route 202 and Sahalee Way. The first stage of the project, just finishing up, adds an additional lane in each direction between Route 520 and East Lake Sammamish Parkway and improves the intersection of Route 202 and East Lake Sammamish Parkway. As part of stage 1, there have been improvements to bicycle lanes, sidewalks, drainage, median landscape and signage; and signal revisions at the Route 520 off-ramp and at Northeast 70th Street. Stage 2 involves widening. Two new lanes, retaining walls, noise walls, bicycle lanes and sidewalks will be constructed between this stretch of roadway. Bridges at 196th Avenue Northeast and at Evans Creek will be replaced. Crews will also raise the roadway 14 feet to accommodate a landslide. The additional lanes will provide for decreased congestion, which will improve sight distance and lighting. There will also be new left-turn lanes, upgraded signs, improved medians, and new sidewalks and bicycle lanes. This portion of the project is projected to be finished in four years. Address: MP 7.77-10.44, state Route 202, Redmond area Cost: $40.79 million (award amount) Type of contract: Hard bid Start of construction: February 2006 Expected completion date: Fall 2009 Contractor: Tri State Construction, 320 106th Ave. N.E., Bellevue, WA 98009, (425) 455-2570 Engineer: Brian Dobbins (WSDOT project engineer) Owner: Washington State Department of Transportation Project participants: Apply-A-Line — DMI Drilling Construction — Glacier Northwest — Ground Support — Inca Engineers — Jeff Johnson Excavating — Nilex Construction — Northwest Erosion Control — Petersen Brothers — Totem Electric of Tacoma — Watson Asphalt Paving Co. Copyright ©2006 Seattle Daily Journal and DJC.COM. Comments? Questions? Contact us.