Straightened stretch of Highway 522 opens in Bothell

BOTHELL — An improved segment of westbound Highway 522 is now open.

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, said Patty Michaud, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation.

The work ended a day earlier than the original schedule.

“We really wanted to limit the closure,” Michaud said.

During the closure, drivers had to detour by taking northbound I-405 and southbound Highway 527. That didn’t cause major traffic backups, Michaud said.

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 increase the number of full-time students from the current 3,000 to 10,000 in about a decade, according to 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; it’s expected to wrap up in fall 2009.

Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.