Good news for downtown traffic due to a ‘round-the-clock effort by paving crews: Yesterday morning Stewart Street opened back up to two lanes and the afternoon rush-hour bus-only restriction between Westlake and Second Avenue was removed. Getting there – and a week ahead of schedule – wasn’t easy. Simultaneously last weekend crews, working 24/7, reconstructed the north side of Stewart Street between Second and Fourth (for future bus lanes) and rebuilt Second Avenue intersections at Stewart, Yesler, Pike, Pine, and Broad. If that weren’t enough work, crews also had to completely demolish old concrete pavement on Second Avenue in less than a three-hour window, after the last Metro trolley bus went through the work zone around 7p.m. Friday and before noise restrictions kicked in at 10p.m. Here’s a before and after look at just one of the five intersections the team reconstructed between Friday night and Monday morning…
A significant amount of coordination was required to get this work done so efficiently and we’re happy to report it was successful! As of today bus lanes between Eastlake and Second Avenue are complete. Crews will now refocus on the south side of Stewart in preparation for asphalt grinding and paving.