The wait is over: At the end of this month, drivers will have their first chance to use the new freeway interchange at Northeast 139th Street in Salmon Creek.
The interchange and bridge will open on Aug. 27, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the occasion, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation. The milestone will effectively finish a project that started construction in August 2010. Preliminary planning and design stretches back as far as 1997, according to WSDOT.
“This is a lot of years in the making,” said WSDOT spokeswoman Magan Reed.
The 139th Street interchange is the fourth and final stage of the $133 million Salmon Creek Interchange Project, an effort to remake the northern convergence of Interstate 5 and Interstate 205. Clark County oversaw the first two stages of the project, which built a new park-and-ride lot and made improvements to local streets.
WSDOT took on the heavy lifting for the final two stages, expanding I-5 and building a new bridge carrying 139th Street across the freeways. Crews also realigned a section of I-205 to make room for the 1,300-foot span.