KIRKLAND BRIEFS: I-405 Express Toll Lanes on Open House Agenda Thursday

Adding express toll lanes to Interstate 405 between Bellevue and Lynnwood and other options for the next phase of improvements to the busy freeway will be discussed Thursday during an open house by Kirkland and state officials at city hall.

Express tolls like those on state Route 167 to the south, which give solo drivers the option of paying a fee electronically to use the high-occupancy lanes, are one option to improve traffic flow on I-405.

Other topics to be discussed by state Department of Transportation officials include a new northbound lane between Northeast 124th Street in Kirkland and state Route 522 in Bothell and new braided ramps northbound in the difficult stretch between the 160th on-ramp and the 522 off-ramp.

The Bellevue-to-Lynnwood project is scheduled to begin in early 2012. You can find details at www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/i405/.

The meeting is in the Peter Kirk Room at Kirkland City Hall, 123 5th Ave., from 4-7 p.m. on Feb. 17.

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Transit Center Ceremony, Feb. 25

You might have noticed that Third Street in downtown Kirkland is once again hosting two-way traffic, and on Feb. 26 buses will again be running from the new Kirkland Transit Center there. So King County Metro and the City of Kirkland are planning an official celebration Friday, Feb. 25, 11 a.m. at Third and Park Lane.

You’ll be able to pick up schedules for the bus routes running out of the station and hear about upcoming city projects.

Sound Transit funded the $13.3 million upgrade, which includes a new plaza, landscaping, sidewalk connections to adjacent Peter Kirk Park and the Kirkland Library, public art and bike storage facilities.

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Open House Scheduled on Sixth Street Work 

The work on Third Street is all but done, so which part of Kirkland might you plan on avoiding next? Why, a mere three blocks to the east on Sixth Street at its busy intersection with Central Way, where early this summer work will begin on revised vehicle lanes, new medians, crosswalks and sidewalks.

You can earn all about that project, funded by a $2 million state grant and $50,000 in city capital improvement funds, at an open house Feb. 24, 4-6:30 p.m., at the lobby of the Tera Apartments, 528 Central Way.

Details can be found at the City of Kirkland project page.