RJ Watson is proud to announce that Skanska has selected us to supply the bridge bearings for the SR 520 Portage Bay Bridge and Roanoke Lid Project—a central piece of Washington State DOT’s Rest of the West improvements to the SR 520 corridor in Seattle.
This $1.375 billion project will replace the aging, 1960s-era Portage Bay Bridge—currently supported by hollow concrete columns and vulnerable in a major earthquake—with two new, seismically resilient structures. The work also includes building a landscaped highway lid to reconnect the Roanoke Park and North Capitol Hill neighborhoods, expanding regional bicycle and pedestrian networks, and completing the final gap in SR 520’s reconstruction between Bellevue and Seattle.
Once finished, the project will deliver safer travel, improved stormwater treatment, extended transit/HOV lanes, and new non-motorized connections across Portage Bay and over I-5. It’s the last major step in a multi-decade program that has already replaced the floating bridge across Lake Washington and rebuilt the highway’s Eastside and Montlake approaches.
For our part, RJ Watson will be supplying 23 fixed bearings, with service loads ranging from 2,000 to 6,000 kips. These components will play a critical role in supporting the new bridge structures, ensuring they meet the demands of heavy daily traffic while withstanding seismic forces for decades to come.
Our selection for this project reflects not just our engineering expertise but also our reputation for on-time delivery and nationwide project support. We look forward to working alongside Skanska and WSDOT to help bring this essential piece of Seattle’s transportation future to life.
At RJ Watson, we remain committed to our mission of Making Bridges Better—through technical excellence, personal collaboration, and solutions that stand the test of time.
