The King County Road Services Division expects to switch traffic on 468th Avenue Southeast from the Edgewick Bridge to a new temporary bridge beginning Tuesday, April 6. The detour is necessary so that the county can replace the current bridge over the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River.

The temporary bridge is one lane wide and motorists will only be able to travel in one direction at a time. There are new temporary traffic signals on both ends of the bridge – plus a signal at Southeast 161^st Street – to help control bridge traffic. The temporary bridge is expected to be in use through mid-October.

The Edgewick Bridge was originally built more than 80 years ago on the Cedar River. In the 1950s, the bridge was moved to the South Fork of the Snoqualmie. Today, the bridge carries about 1,000 vehicles per day and provides the only access to properties south of the river.

The current bridge does not meet many of today’s safety standards for bridges and roadways. Overhead clearance and lane widths are too small for today’s vehicles, and the bridge has a posted load limit of one truck at a time. Structural deterioration, such as corrosion of the steel truss elements and decay of timbers, make the bridge difficult to maintain and vulnerable to damage from events such as earthquakes and floods.

The new bridge has been designed with wider travel lanes, shoulders, more vertical clearance, and better sight lines for motorists. The total construction contract cost is $ 3.3 million.