(Photo courtesy of WSDOT.)

The I-405/NE 132nd St. Interchange Project has been under way since last fall when pre-construction work began. However, construction activities have ramped up in recent months and the project is starting to take shape.

This project builds a new on-ramp to northbound I-405 and a new off-ramp from southbound I-405 at Northeast 132nd St. in Kirkland, Wash. This type of interchange is known as a half-diamond. After this project is complete, travelers will have the option to access I-405 at Northeast 132nd St. rather than traveling to the heavily congested Northeast 124th St. or Northeast 160th St. interchanges.

Shifting Traffic to Create Safe Work Zones

Since the ground breaking ceremony in May, the project has moved into its first traffic shift to create space for crews to safely begin building the new half-diamond interchange.

This first traffic shift will remain in place until fall 2023 and it is one of three traffic shifts for the project. The second traffic shift is scheduled for this October, though that could change, said officials.

The Washington State Department of Transportation held a ground breaking ceremony where it hosted Gov. Jay Inslee and Deputy Secretary of Transportation Amy Scarton, along with elected officials from the city of Kirkland.

Additional Construction

Crews have been working on utility relocations, drainage system work on Northeast 132nd St., retaining wall construction along Northeast 132nd St. and continual erosion control maintenance.

This summer, crews are executing in-water work and stream work, seismic retrofit work on the I-405 overpass above Northeast 132nd St. and excavation for future ponds. In addition, crews will build a temporary alignment on 116th Avenue Northeast.

This fall, crews will install part of the new fish culvert, implement the project's second traffic shift, move 116th Avenue Northeast to a temporary alignment, continue wall construction, demolish the existing noise wall, begin building a new noise wall and begin grading for the future on-ramp and off-ramp.

Environmental Enhancements

While the main purpose of the project is to build a new interchange with roundabouts and enhance multimodal travel on the local road, there also are several environmental improvements happening.

One of the larger environmental enhancements is to remove a fish barrier in the project area. Crews will correct this fish barrier to create more than a half-mile of new upstream fish habitat. Another environmentally friendly aspect of this specific work is related to tree removal.

WSDOT has a robust tree-replanting policy to expand its native tree canopy while it makes investments in the transportation system. WSDOT will provide an incentive for the contractor to remove as few trees as possible to complete the project, especially the older more established trees. For every tree removed, it will replant multiple trees in relation to the diameter of each tree being removed.

In the case of this project, some of the trees that have been taken down will be reused and incorporated into the new future stream habitat for fish.

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