Deconstruction of the old State Route 520 bridge could begin in Kenmore as soon as April 25 after the Washington State Department of Transportation and contractor Kiewit/General/Manson (KGM) announced their plans at a March 14 Kenmore City Council meeting.

Councilmembers said some details of the announcement were unexpected and unanimously voicing opposition to, and concern over, the proposal.

“I think we were all really surprised by it and it’s certainly not something we want to see in the community,” Kenmore Mayor David Baker said. “We were all under the impression that the project was over and wrapping up and that they would be gone.”

Anchors and panels for the new 520 floating bridge were constructed in Kenmore on an industrial site known as Lakepointe on the northern bank of Lake Washington at the mouth of the Sammamish River.

The project was approved in 2011 by the Kenmore City Council, but current members said there was never any indication the contractor and the WSDOT would deconstruct the bridge in Kenmore, as well.

Deconstruction of the old 520 bridge would include moving large pieces of concrete structure from the bridge to Lakepointe by barge.

From there they would be broken down into basketball-sized chunks and the steel reinforcements removed in Kenmore before being moved by truck out of the city, a KGM representative said at the March 14 council meeting.

Councilmembers said they were under the impression the bridge would be dismantled on the lake and simply barged to Kenmore, loaded up and driven away.

The large asbestos-containing pontoons have been purchased by a third party and will be taken out-of-state to be re-purposed and will not come to Kenmore.

According to KGM, about 16,000 cubic yards of concrete will pass through Kenmore by way of some 1,100 truckloads, averaging eight truck trips a day.

Deconstruction could run from April 25 until December, with the most intense deconstruction happening over the summer.

But a construction stormwater permit filed by KGM with the state Department of Ecology lists effective dates beginning April 1 and lasting one year.

A WSDOT representative said at the meeting they give great discretion to their contractors, and view deconstruction as part and parcel to the construction activities approved by the council in 2011.

But Councilmember Brent Smith, who was not on the 2011 council, said he has been following the issue since it was approved, and the March 14 announcement caught him by surprise.

“I don’t ever recall any discussion of the decommissioning or the recycling of it taking place at Lakepointe,” he said. “I’m highly in tune to what’s going on because there have been things, everything from barge activity to hours of operation, there has been a number of construction issues that were not properly disclosed initially.”

Multiple councilmembers said the project, though likely more convenient and cheaper for the state, has not benefited Kenmore.

They cited the fact that sales taxes from construction have flowed largely to Seattle and Medina for the new 520 bridge, with no revenue reaching Kenmore. City officials also said traffic has increased along State Route 522 since tolls were implemented on the 520 bridge, increasing congestion.

Additionally, the bridge on Northeast Juanita Drive spanning the Sammamish River began showing signs of settling and cracking after more drivers started commuting north around the lake after 520 tolls were implemented, Kenmore City Manager Rob Karlinsey said.

The city has secured $20 million of the $30 million needed to construct a replacement bridge.

Noise from the site has also been an issue, and would likely remain the same or increase as tons of concrete are broken down, although KGM has said they will only work between 7 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on weekdays within the city’s noise ordinance.

But the perception of a lack of transparency also concerned the Council.

In KGM’s stormwater permit application, they list a new eight-acre plot to house the deconstruction with the Department of Ecology, while decommissioning their previous 20-acre plot.

In 2014, the city of Kenmore passed a resolution banning new heavy manufacturing within the city.

Existing manufacturing, like the 520 bridge construction, would be grandfathered in so long as they did not expand their operations.

Changing operational plots and switching from construction to deconstruction activities could trigger a prohibition by the city, Karlinsey said, though he would not confirm if that was the city’s position until an official letter to KGM and the WSDOT had been sent.

In an email response, a KGM spokesperson said they had been in discussions with the city staff since last March and think deconstruction of the bridge will have minimal impacts on the city.

Additionally, since the company has been operating out of Lakepointe for the duration of the project, KGM said other sites were not analyzed for deconstruction.

The email also said the deconstruction should be a “short-term, six month operation and the Kenmore site offers the best location from a logistical standpoint.”

Smith said he was still surprised by the extent of deconstruction plans in Kenmore at the March 14 meeting.

“I think they perceived it in their best interest to keep this as far under the radar as possible,” he said. “I cannot believe for a minute that they thought this would be welcomed, so it’s in their best interest to keep it as non-transparent and as low-key as possible.”

The Department of Ecology has a public comment period for the stormwater permit closing April 1.

Note: The amount of concrete to be deconstructed at Lakepointe is from statements made by a KGM representative at the March 14 Kenmore City Council meeting, an updated version correctly states there are anticipated to be 1,100 truckloads instead of 11,000.