Last week’s opening of a Chick-fil-A in Bellevue has been causing major congestion near the new restaurant, which Bellevue Police tackled Tuesday using a new traffic management plan.

“We did hear from the owner at Chick-fil-A that they have a period where the interest in having one of their meals goes on for about a week,” said Tresa Berg, spokeswoman for the city’s transportation department. “They expect that there will still be a lot of people wanting to get to their restaurant.”

Demand for Chick-fil-A has caused backups on Interstate 405 at the Northeast Eight Street east exit, as well as a lot of turning traffic from Eighth to get to the restaurant on 116th Avenue Northeast, Berg said. There has also been a lot of pedestrian traffic since Chick-fil-A opened.

“We had heard that they were very popular,” she said. “We had no idea that they would be this popular.”

In an effort to control traffic, the police department’s management plan, implemented Tuesday, included lane closures on Northeast Eighth and 116th to mitigate the volume of vehicles heading to Chick-fil-A. Officers will monitor the effectiveness of this plan and make changes as needed, according to Bellevue Police Ofc. Seth Tyler.

Berg said the Chick-fil-A operator is responsible for paying the cost of having police manage traffic flow in and out of the restaurant. She added traffic concerns regarding Chick-fil-A were expected to be alleviated by the opening of another franchise in Tacoma on Thursday. A Lynnwood location is slated to open May 7.