Work on the long-planned Interstate 405 – state Route 167 interchange will finally begin this summer, as the Washington State Department of Transportation this past week announced an “apparent best value” of the design-build contract to a Renton firm, expected to be awarded officially later.

Guy F. Atkinson Construction, LLC of Renton submitted the apparent best value proposal of $115.9 million to complete design and construction for the Direct Connector, making it the first Seattle area project funded by last summer’s Connecting Washington gas tax package to start construction.

The project will build a new flyover ramp that links the northbound SR167 HOT lane with the northbound I-405 carpool lane, and the southbound I-405 carpool lane with the southbound SR 167 HOT lane.

“The Direct Connector has long been a top priority for the I-405 program, and we are looking forward to breaking ground on these important improvements,” Kim Henry, I-405/SR 167 project director, said in a press release. “Once completed, traffic across all lanes in the area will flow much more smoothly.”

Because the new flyover will cut through the existing Talbot Hill neighborhood, contractor crews will also rebuild portions of local streets and make improvements designed to reduce highway noise.

Currently, the I-405/SR 167 interchange each day is considered one of the worst interchanges in the state.

“In this area there’s up to eight hours of congested traffic,” said Lisa Hodgson with WSDOT.

The existing configuration is a contributing factor with drivers in the left carpool or HOT lane merging across traffic to exit only to merge back across to continue their trip.

WSDOT and Atkinson Construction expect to sign a contract giving notice to proceed later this month on a first phase of design and construction activities. The latest road closure information will be posted on WSDOT’s construction update website throughout the project.

The Direct Connector, which is part of the 2002 I-405 Master Plan’s multimodal suite of improvements, is scheduled to open to traffic by mid-2019.

Funding began to arrive in the form of the 2003 and 2005 approvals by the legislature to increase the gas tax to go toward roadwork and work began on several stretches of 405. However, there was still no funding approved for the interchange project so again, so it sat on the shelf.

In 2008, the environmental assessment on the interchange project was approved, allowing the engineers to take a closer look at exactly where the freeway would go. WSDOT went back to the neighborhood, which at the time was still a single empty parcel with a single owner and seemed to pose no real problems to construction.

In 2012, WSDOT received some funding for the project and returned to the area to discover a brand new, single-family neighborhood. WSDOT received funding for property acquisition in 2014 and began purchasing properties in the way of the project. In one case, WSDOT bought a 3,300-square-foot home, loaded onto steel beams and wheels and then moved the entire house across the street over the course of two days.

The most recent funding for the project came as part of the 2015 Connecting Washington package.