Utility work for the highly anticipated Lincoln Square expansion is slated to begin Monday, closing Bellevue Way from Northeast Fourth to Sixth streets until May 23.

Development Services Director Mike Brennan updated City Council on the traffic impacts and timeline for Kemper Development Company’s construction of a second Lincoln Square tower, which is part of a $1.2 billion expansion of the Bellevue Collection.

Following utility installment, the first phase of the Lincoln Square 2 project will be a six-level car garage. The utility work will shut down Bellevue Way between Fourth and Sixth through May 23, said Brennan. Some of the work involves digging as deep as 20 feet. The city will not use detour signs, because it was determined more effective to let drivers make their own alternative routes, Brennan said.

Intermittent road closures are expected to occur when major construction of Lincoln Square 2 begins. Brennan said construction will follow the Bellevue Arts Museum’s  art fair, which runs July 25-27.

KDC Chairman Kemper Freeman is hosting a press conference Friday to discuss the Bellevue Collection expansion and preside over the grand opening of The Studio Expansion Experience Center, which a release states will be the “high tech leasing sales office of the future.”