Travelers and commuters on Interstate 90 are enjoying a smoother, safer ride between Bellevue and Mercer Island with the completion of pavement preservation work paid for with federal stimulus dollars. Earlier this week WSDOT’s contractor, Interstate Improvement Inc., wrapped up the $7.6 million project, which began in January.

The three-mile stretch of I-90 carries about 133,000 vehicles on an average day. The project was designed to keep people and freight moving by preserving and strengthening existing concrete panels on both directions of I-90 between Bellevue and Seattle.

The work is part of the I-90 Two-Way Transit and HOV Operations Project which adds high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on I-90 between Bellevue Way SE and W Mercer Way and improves HOV access to and from the freeway in Mercer Island and Bellevue. The new lanes on the outer roadways will add 24-hour HOV lanes to both directions of I-90 and enable Sound Transit to start building light rail across Lake Washington in the center lanes.

This work was initially part of Stage 2 of the project but was accelerated due to the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Construction will begin later this month on the rest of Stage 2, which will add an HOV lane on eastbound I-90 between Mercer Island and Bellevue and modify the existing reversible HOV-access ramp at 80th Ave SE on Mercer Island. WSDOT and Sound Transit recently awarded the construction contract to Gary Merlino Construction Co. of Seattle.

Stage 1 of the project added a new westbound HOV lane between Bellevue and Mercer Island and a new HOV off-ramp at 80th Ave SE on Mercer Island. It opened to drivers in October 2008. All three stages of the $187.6 million project should be complete in 2014.