Fwd: Traffic Alert! 114th Ave NE Closed this weekend
Kevin Dunlap
From: Sarah R Olson <sro...@kirklandwa.gov>
Date: Thu, Apr 30, 2026, 6:22 PM
Subject: RE: Traffic Alert! 114th Ave NE Closed this weekend
To: Murray McKinney Sr <mmcki...@mckinassoc.com>, Kevin Dunlap <kevinj...@gmail.com>, Ryan David <rdav...@gmail.com>, Karen Story <ka...@nwnative.us>, Gary Bustinduy <gbbki...@gmail.com>, Mari Bercaw <marib...@hotmail.com>, Kaitlin Goodman <kgoo...@kirklandwa.gov>
Hello Highlands,
I was a bit relieved to hear that the impacts of last weekend’s closure didn’t end up as a ‘carmegedon’ moment – whew!
We’re getting ready for Round 2 of the waterline closure of 114th Ave NE and Kirkland Way this weekend. From 9pm Friday – 5am Sunday, local access at 114th Ave NE and Kirkland Way will be closed with detours in place – the same set up as last weekend (see detour map below).
Thank you for all of your feedback. I’ve shared it with WSDOT and our traffic engineers. One of the changes you will see for next weekend is the removal of the marked bike/ped CKC detour route to 114th. We do not want to route people through the construction zone. However, it will have temporary RRFBs for crossings should people decided to go that route. The CKC will be opened next weekend for the marathon and then closed for a final time on Monday, May 4th. A full reopening of the CKC is anticipated by the end of May (weather and word dependent).
Tomorrow, communications will begin to announce the full 85th closure planned for May 8 – 11. Starting May 11th, 85th traffic will move to the new configuration and the intersection at 114th Ave NE will be put into a temporary roundabout for construction. The roundabout construction will continue through the summer. Check out the WSDOT blogpost for more info: https://wsdotblog.blogspot.com/2026/03/a-new-spin-in-kirkland-northeast-85th.html
I’ve also included a visual At A Glance calendar depicting the remaining May closures that are anticipated and attached a photo of the revised striping on 112th for the Stores to Shores project which corrected the lane widths.
Wishing you well,
Sarah R. Olson, MPA (she/her)
Deputy Director of Engineering, Planning, and Development Services
City of Kirkland Public Works
O: 425-587-3897 | C:425-515-0144 | sro...@kirklandwa.gov
From: Murray McKinney Sr <mmcki...@mckinassoc.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 26, 2026 12:17 PM
To: Kevin Dunlap <kevinj...@gmail.com>; Ryan David <rdav...@gmail.com>
Cc: Kurt Triplett <KTri...@kirklandwa.gov>; Sarah R Olson <sro...@kirklandwa.gov>; Karen Story <ka...@nwnative.us>; Gary Bustinduy <gbbki...@gmail.com>; Mari Bercaw <marib...@hotmail.com>; Kaitlin Goodman <kgoo...@kirklandwa.gov>; connie...@hotmail.com;
Jon Pascal <JPa...@kirklandwa.gov>; John Tymczyszyn <jo...@kirklandwa.gov>; Julie Underwood <JUnde...@kirklandwa.gov>
Subject: RE: Traffic Alert! 114th Ave NE Closed this weekend
Sarah:
The road closure went way better than I was anticipating.
I agree with Kevin’s and Ryan’s comments below regarding future closures and the need for more advance notification and signage at the intersections.
Also, the temporary asphalt patch that was installed over the excavation at the NE corner of 85th & 114th is extremely rough. Perhaps the City can talk with Graham Construction about improving the patch.
Thanks for your efforts!!!!
Murray L. McKinney Sr.
9611 - 116th Ave. N.E.
Kirkland, WA 98033
Cell: (206) 390-5342
From: Kevin Dunlap <kevinj...@gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 26, 2026 9:03 AM
To: Ryan David <rdav...@gmail.com>
Cc: Kurt Triplett <KTri...@kirklandwa.gov>; Sarah R Olson <sro...@kirklandwa.gov>; Murray McKinney Sr <mmcki...@mckinassoc.com>;
Karen Story <ka...@nwnative.us>; Gary Bustinduy <gbbki...@gmail.com>; Mari Bercaw <marib...@hotmail.com>; Kaitlin Goodman <kgoo...@kirklandwa.gov>;
connie...@hotmail.com; Jon Pascal <JPa...@kirklandwa.gov>; John Tymczyszyn <jo...@kirklandwa.gov>; Julie Underwood <JUnde...@kirklandwa.gov>
Subject: Re: Traffic Alert! 114th Ave NE Closed this weekend
Hi Sarah,
I have a couple of suggestions for next weekend based on what I observed during the recent closure.
I noticed a number of cars heading east on NE 87th St reached the 114th Ave NE closure and performed U-turns directly in the intersection. To discourage this, it might be helpful to place orange cones along the centerline of 114th Ave NE, north of 87th St,
to encourage drivers to drive around the block instead.
Additionally, it looks like there is still some white striping work that needs to be completed on 112th Ave NE.
Thank you for the updates and for all your work on these projects.
Best regards,
Kevin Dunlap
On Sun, Apr 26, 2026, 8:46 AM Ryan David <rdav...@gmail.com> wrote:
Thanks Sarah. I think this weekend's closures were a good trial to see how we could improve future closures. What will the city do differently next weekend? I noticed a few things:
1. Many cars were driving up 87th without seeing or understanding the signs set out. Then they had to do u-turns at 114th which meant they were either turning north on 114th or doing U-turns right in the intersection of 114th and 87th or driving to 116th to turn around. I'm not sure how to have prevented this but maybe a more clear sign like "Neighborhood exit CLOSED" or "Local Traffic Only, Access to 85th St CLOSED" may be helpful. I suspect a lot of people if they read signs at all don't know what 114th S means.
2. The stop sign at 7th ave and 6th st didn't seem to be that bad but the light at Central Way and 6th St suffered because of the traffic all the way up Central to 114th st. This did back up traffic all the way to the 7th ave and 6th stop sign at times. Part of the confusion seemed to step from the flashing red lights at 114th and 85th st. There was a cop there waving the cars on in both directions but really a flashing red light means stop then go which some did. These lights should have been flashing yellow. That may have helped with the confusion.
3. In the morning there was no indication from Google maps that there was a traffic issue. By the end of day it said "construction" only on 114th but didn't show that the road was closed. Many people rely on Google Maps - I don't know if we have any control over it but the fastest route out still was to take 114th S throughout the day. I checked Apple Maps at the end of the day and interestingly it said 114th was closed and detoured to 6th St. Does Google have a mechanism to work with construction crews in real time?
I'm glad to see the project was completed early.
Ryan David
On Sat, Apr 25, 2026 at 11:31 PM Kurt Triplett <KTri...@kirklandwa.gov> wrote:
Thanks so much Sarah for all your hard work managing this over the past few days. Great job!
Get Outlook for iOS
From: Sarah R Olson <sro...@kirklandwa.gov>
Sent: Saturday, April 25, 2026 9:38:21 PM
To: Ryan David <rdav...@gmail.com>
Cc: Murray McKinney Sr <mmcki...@mckinassoc.com>; Karen Story <ka...@nwnative.us>; Gary Bustinduy <gbbki...@gmail.com>; marib...@hotmail.com <marib...@hotmail.com>; Kaitlin Goodman <kgoo...@kirklandwa.gov>; kevinj...@gmail.com <kevinj...@gmail.com>; connie...@hotmail.com <connie...@hotmail.com>; Jon Pascal <JPa...@kirklandwa.gov>; John Tymczyszyn <jo...@kirklandwa.gov>; Julie Underwood <JUnde...@kirklandwa.gov>; Kurt Triplett <KTri...@kirklandwa.gov>
Subject: RE: Traffic Alert! 114th Ave NE Closed this weekend
Hi all,
Quick update – WSDOT got the waterline set on the on the northside of the road ahead of schedule (thank you dry weather) and they are pulling up the closure tonight. Yay! Message boards are being reset to announce next weekend’s closure which will be Friday night to Sunday morning.
Ryan – to your point about project status on all the projects, I’ll send an update later this week with WSDOT’s updates for the May closures and the City’s projects (including the good news about the 112th restriping that was finished this week).
Have a great rest of your weekend!
Sarah R. Olson, MPA (she/her)
Deputy Director of Engineering, Planning, and Development Services
City of Kirkland Public Works
O: 425-587-3897 | C:425-515-0144 | sro...@kirklandwa.gov
From: Ryan David <rdav...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, April 24, 2026 9:02 PM
To: Sarah R Olson <sro...@kirklandwa.gov>
Cc: Murray McKinney Sr <mmcki...@mckinassoc.com>; Karen Story <ka...@nwnative.us>; Gary Bustinduy <gbbki...@gmail.com>; marib...@hotmail.com; Kaitlin Goodman <kgoo...@kirklandwa.gov>; kevinj...@gmail.com; connie...@hotmail.com; Jon Pascal <JPa...@kirklandwa.gov>; John Tymczyszyn <jo...@kirklandwa.gov>; Julie Underwood <JUnde...@kirklandwa.gov>
Subject: Re: Traffic Alert! 114th Ave NE Closed this weekend
Thank you Sarah. I appreciate the communication as well. I think we'll learn a lot about how future weekends will go from this one. Let's keep trying to get the word out through all channels as early as possible. It might be helpful to keep up the reminders of when the Central Way project, the Highlands roundabout project, and the 85th St projects will be completed and how close to on schedule we are running. A timeline or graphic of what percent completed each project has achieved would help keep eyes on the prize and no doubt make these interruptions somewhat more tolerable.
Ryan David
On Fri, Apr 24, 2026 at 6:06 PM Sarah R Olson <sro...@kirklandwa.gov> wrote:
Hello Highlands neighbors,
Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns. I understand the frustration with the short notice and the anticipated traffic impacts, and I’m sorry this is coming together so quickly.Challenging site conditions encountered during multiple weeks of night shifts necessitated transitioning to a continuous weekend work window to complete this critical waterline replacement safely and effectively. Planning has been occurring for several weeks but getting approval for a traffic plan that accommodates the work and doesn’t back up traffic onto the freeway has been laborious and complex. Completing the waterline is on the interchange project’s critical path for the Phase 4 traffic shift scheduled the weekend of May 8; this is a shift of 85th traffic from the middle level to the new lower level of 85th and putting the 114th Ave intersection into its first construction configuration for roundabout construction. Waterline, Phase 4 shift, and Fish Passage work is scheduled to occur this weekend through the month of May ahead of the upcoming FIFA World Cup construction closure moratorium.
I hear you on communication. While we did push information out through TWIK, social media, and email lists, that doesn’t reach everyone.. We will take that feedback and continue to improve how we notify the neighborhood—especially for the additional closures coming in May.
In terms of operations this weekend:
- The closure will begin earlier than originally noted at 9:00 p.m. tonight.
- I’ve attached a PDF with detailed closure information and detour routes to help with trip planning.
Regarding your suggestions:
- Depending on how this weekend operates, opening the 100th overpass is something we may evaluate for future weekends.
- Providing a temporary connection to the I-405 southbound on-ramp at 116th isn’t feasible due to design and safety constraints. The off ramp is also expected to be heavily congested with the reduction to a single westbound lane on NE 85th, so it would not function well as a reliable relief route.
I know this will be a challenging weekend for travel, and I truly appreciate your patience as we complete this critical work. Our goal is to get through this safely and keep the broader project on track.
I’m hoping you’re still able to have a good weekend despite the congestion, and please don’t hesitate to reach out with additional questions or concerns.
Best,
Sarah
Sarah R. Olson, MPA (she/her)
Deputy Director of Engineering, Planning, and Development Services
City of Kirkland Public Works
O: 425-587-3897 | C:425-515-0144 | sro...@kirklandwa.gov
From: Ryan David <rdav...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, April 24, 2026 7:46 AM
To: Murray McKinney Sr <mmcki...@mckinassoc.com>
Cc: Karen Story <ka...@nwnative.us>; Sarah R Olson <sro...@kirklandwa.gov>; Gary Bustinduy <gbbki...@gmail.com>; marib...@hotmail.com; Kaitlin Goodman <kgoo...@kirklandwa.gov>; kevinj...@gmail.com; connie...@hotmail.com; Jon Pascal <jpa...@kirklandwa.gov>; John Tymczyszyn <Jo...@kirklandwa.gov>; Julie Underwood <junde...@kirklandwa.gov>
Subject: Re: Traffic Alert! 114th Ave NE Closed this weekend
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I guess the city is trying the element of surprise? Seriously, are there plans to add a traffic cop instead of a stop sign to 6th and 87th to help facilitate anyone trying to leave our neighborhood and maybe change the light pattern onto 85th st from 6th so people have time to get out?
I am not a fan of opening 100th St as a pop-off valve. Has there been a discussion regarding opening the 116th connection to the 405 S exit ramp temporarily for cars to leave the neighborhood?
Ryan
On Fri, Apr 24, 2026 at 7:15 AM Murray McKinney Sr <mmcki...@mckinassoc.com> wrote:
I don’t understand why there wasn’t more advanced notice provided about this closure!!! I hadn’t seen any signs in the vicinity of NE 87th & 114th Avenue NE advising the residents to alter their travel plans. Did Graham all of a sudden decide that they were going to make these road closures???
Notice sent out at 10:30 on Thursday night via email! Not everyone in the Highlands is getting the emails or monitoring the websites.
Very poor communication by both the City and Graham!!
Murray L. McKinney Sr.
Cell: (206) 390-5342
From: Karen Story <ka...@nwnative.us>
Sent: Friday, April 24, 2026 7:06 AM
To: Sarah R Olson <sro...@kirklandwa.gov>; Gary Bustinduy <gbbki...@gmail.com>; Murray McKinney Sr <mmcki...@mckinassoc.com>; marib...@hotmail.com; Kaitlin Goodman <kgoo...@kirklandwa.gov>; rdav...@gmail.com; kevinj...@gmail.com; connie...@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: Traffic Alert! 114th Ave NE Closed this weekend
Let's see how this weekend goes, and how bad the backups are. If needed for future closures, I would support opening the 100th St bridge to eastbound traffic. Thanks for suggesting it.
On 4/23/2026 10:23 PM, Sarah R Olson wrote:
Hello Highlands neighbors:
I wanted to share an upcoming traffic change related to the NE 85th interchange project. From 11:00 p.m. Friday through 5:00 a.m. Monday, access to NE 85th from 114th Ave NE will be closed while crews install the final segment of watermain across NE 85th.
Detour routes will be in place, but we expect heavier congestion - especially along NE 87th and through the 6th/Central and 3rd/Central corridors, with peak impacts likely Saturday afternoon. If you’re able, consider completing errands on Friday or allowing extra travel time over the weekend. For returning to the neighborhood, one option is to use the freeway and approach westbound on NE 85th; right-turn access to 114th will remain open.
This is the first of two planned weekend closures needed to complete the watermain work. The second closure is scheduled for next weekend (Friday night through Sunday morning), after which the roadway will reopen in time for the Kirkland Half Marathon. The Cross Kirkland Corridor (CKC) remains closed now but will be open for marathon weekend.
We’ll share additional details, including detour maps, on Friday. Information has also been posted via TWIK and social media, and we’d appreciate your help spreading the word within the Highlands community. Looking ahead, there will be several more weekends of traffic impacts in May, and we’re working to provide early notice on those as well.
I’d also value your input on a potential idea for future closures: opening the 100th overpass for one-way outbound traffic during peak hours. We recognize the bridge is steep and narrow, so it may not be comfortable for all drivers - but we’re interested in whether this could be a helpful option. Please let me know your thoughts.
Thank you in advance for your patience and for helping us keep neighbors informed. Don’t hesitate to reach out with questions.
Sincerely,
Sarah
Sarah R. Olson, MPA (she/her)
Deputy Director of Engineering, Planning, and Development Services
City of Kirkland Public Works
123 Fifth Ave, Kirkland WA 98033
O: 425-587-3897 | C: 425-515-0144 | sro...@kirklandwa.govOur Kirkland: report Non-Emergency Issues, Request Services and Ask Questions
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Ryan D. David, MD
(917) 658-6096
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Ryan D. David, MD
(917) 658-6096
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Ryan D. David, MD
(917) 658-6096
