Contact: David Edwards, Design Project Engineer, (206) 440-4312 (Seattle)
Melanie Coon, Public Information Officer, (206) 440-4700 (Seattle)

SEATTLE - The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is getting ready to construct a new entrance to the joint UW Bothell/Cascadia Community College campus located at the junction of Interstate 405 and State Route 522 in Bothell. We are hosting an open house meeting next week to answer questions about the project, affects to neighbors and commuters, and the project schedule.

Who: Washington State Department of Transportation
What: Open House, State Route 522, UW Bothell/Cascadia CC South Access Project
When: 5-7 p.m. Tuesday, January 10
Where: North Creek Café
UW Bothell/Cascadia CC campus
Bothell, WA

Both colleges are required to add a new entrance from SR 522 in order to grow from 3,000 to 10,000 full-time students. The new south access provides congestion relief at the north entrance from Beardslee Boulevard and will take more vehicles off city streets. Direct access to the campus provides a convenient route for buses that encourages transit use to reduce parking demand and potentially the number of cars traveling to the campus.

Getting to Bothell and the joint campus will be easier and safer.

• Besides adding a new entrance to the UW Bothell/Cascadia CC campus, we will also construct several traffic and safety improvements near this busy freeway interchange. Improvements include a new traffic signal on SR 522 at the campus access road, a straighter roadway on SR 522 and an additional exit lane from southbound I-405.
• Drivers coming from I-405 will have the choice of two lanes when exiting to SR 522. One lane will allow drivers to bypass the new signal at the south campus entrance and continue toward Bothell. The other lane will lead directly into the south end of the campus. The new signal improves safety by allowing drivers to access SR 522 from the campus without having to wait for a break in traffic. The additional lane and new bridge also eliminate the backup of vehicles on I-405 waiting to exit to SR 522.
• The intersection at Kaysner Way will be widened to help improve safety and traffic congestion by giving I-405 drivers headed to the mobile home park or Brackett’s Landing more space to make a u-turn at the existing signal.
• Crews will rebuild the curve on SR 522 directly in front of the campus, making it straighter to reduce accidents and improve the flow of traffic along that part of the road.

The Washington State Legislature has provided $29.5 million for this project, including $3.5 million for design and right of way acquisition from the colleges’ higher education budget, $13 million from the 2003 Nickel Package and $13 million from the 2005 funding package. The project is now fully funded through construction.

Now that construction funding is in place, the schedule for this project has been finalized to advertise for bids this spring. WSDOT design engineers are currently finishing the design and the project is scheduled to break ground this summer. New lanes to and from the campus are planned to open in the fall of 2007 and crews will complete the project in summer of 2008.

Those not able to attend the open house can learn more about the project by visiting the project web page: www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR522/UW <http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/SR522/UW> or by contacting WSDOT Project Engineer David Edwards at 206-440-4312 or edwardd@wsdot.wa.gov <mailto:edwardd@wsdot.wa.gov>.

The open house locations are accessible to people with disabilities. Individuals requiring reasonable accommodations may request written materials in alternate formats, sign language interpreters, physical accessibility accommodations, or other reasonable accommodation by contacting Ben Brown, at (206) 440- 4582. Persons who are deaf or hard of hearing may call the Washington State Telecommunications Relay Service or Tele-Braille at 7-1-1, Voice 1-800-833-6384, and ask to be connected to Ben Brown.

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