New section of Highway 522 opens

Published 10:24 am Monday, October 27, 2008

BOTHELL – A new segment of westbound Highway 522 has opened for service, the state Department of Transportation reported.

Crews shut down the highway’s westbound lanes between I-405 and Kaysner Way in Bothell between Friday night and Sunday morning. On Sunday, they finished connecting the road to a new, lower roadway.

During the closure, drivers had to detour by taking northbound I-405 and southbound Highway 527.

The work is part of a $50.7 million project to build a new entrance to the south side of the University of Washington’s Bothell campus, where Cascadia Community College also operates.

The university and the community college need to add a south access to their campus from Highway 522 to attract more students. They want to increase the number of full-time students from the current 3,000 to 10,000 in about a decade, according to the UW Bothell.

In late September, the state closed a section of eastbound Highway 522 over a weekend and connected the road to new, straighter lanes.

Construction for the project started in April and is expected to wrap up in fall 2009.