Ground will be broken by the end of the month and construction will be fast-tracked for a new King County road project to relieve congestion in Issaquah, Sammamish and along heavily traveled portions of Interstate 90.

King County recently accepted an extremely competitive bid for construction of the Sammamish Plateau Access Road (SPAR) North Link – or the North SPAR as it's commonly known. Nearly a mile long, the SPAR will connect the intersection of Issaquah-Fall City Road and Issaquah-Pine Lake Road to a new road network providing direct access to I-90.

The Roads Services Division is accelerating the work schedule for the North SPAR so that the first section will be completed by early 2003 (depending on weather) and the road completely done by the fall of that year. The county’s project is timed to coincide with the state’s opening of the expanded Sunset Interchange on I-90.

King County is working cooperatively with the Washington State Department of Transportation, the city of Issaquah, and the developers of the Issaquah Highlands community to develop an entire new road network to serve the Sammamish Plateau.

The linked projects should also relieve back-ups on I-90 at the Front Street exit.

"This is a high-growth area that has a limited number of access roads due to the terrain," said King County Executive Ron Sims. "This partnership has been very successful in designing a new system to serve both current and future residents of Issaquah, Sammamish and unincorporated King County."

For the North SPAR, the county took advantage of a favorable bidding climate in accepting a construction bid submitted by Scarsella Brothers of Kent that was lower than original estimates.