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Kenmore has big plans for one of the more significant commuter routes in the area, and that includes replacing an old bridge over the Sammamish River. This bridge replacement project is expected to cause delays.

A lot of people use routes such as Simonds Road or Juanita Way to head north out of Juanita and Kirkland and connect to Highway 522 in Kenmore.聽But to get to Highway 522, they have to cross the Sammamish River.

Related: Bothell Way is getting a makeover

鈥淚t鈥檚 a regionally significant corridor,鈥� said Kris Overleese, Kenmore鈥檚 public works director. 鈥淲e have about 26,000 cars a day that cross the river,鈥� Overleese said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 a lot of traffic.鈥�

Time has taken its toll on the bridge. Now one of the bridge spans over the Sammamish River needs to be replaced.

鈥淚t is structurally deficient 鈥� it needs to be replaced,鈥� Overleese said. 鈥淚t actually has a load restriction right now. We did that to keep it from getting pounded more. We got quite a bit of traffic on it, so we want to keep the heavy trucks off of it; to make its life last as long as we need to until we can replace it.鈥�

Kenmore bridge project

There are two bridges currently over the river and each one handles a different direction of traffic. Only the southbound span is being replaced.

鈥淭he original bridge was built in the 1930s, and that鈥檚 the southbound one so that鈥檚 the old one we are working to replace,鈥� Overleese said. 鈥淎nother one was added later for the northbound traffic, that鈥檚 the east bridge. It鈥檚 newer and doesn鈥檛 need to be replaced at this time.鈥�

Kenmore is hosting an open house on the project at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Kenmore City Hall. Design work is underway, but the plan is to make the new Kenmore bridge much wider to accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians while keeping two lanes of traffic.

Construction is set to begin in 2019 and should take about two years. Overleese says they plan to keep those southbound lanes of the bridge open during construction and demolition.

鈥淲e can start building the new bridge on the outside of the old one,鈥� Overleese said. 鈥淲e will build the outside first, move the two lanes of cars onto the new piece, and demo the old bridge and build up in the middle.鈥�

So, basically, drivers will be using what will become the pedestrian and bike path as the new middle section is completed.

鈥淚t will be challenging, it will be difficult,鈥� Overleese said. 鈥淚 will plant the seed right now that even though we will do our best to keep traffic moving, there will be impacts.鈥�

Kenmore has about $21 million dedicated to this project, most of it coming from federal transportation grants. The rest of the funding will come from the Legislature and Puget Sound Regional Council.

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