Washington State Route 518

File:WA-518 eastbound near I-5.jpg and I-405 in Tukwila.]]

SR 518 begins at a partial cloverleaf interchange with SR 509 east of Burien and travels east as a divided freeway,{{cite web |date=August 1, 2011 |title=SR 509: Junction SR 518/S 146th St |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |url=http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/tools/InterchangeViewer/pdf/SR509/509X025.pdf |access-date=January 30, 2013}} passing north of Highline High School. The freeway intersects Des Moines Memorial Drive and 154th Street north of Seattle–Tacoma International Airport and continues east into SeaTac.{{cite web |date=August 15, 2006 |title=SR 518: Junction Des Moines Way S |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |url=http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/tools/InterchangeViewer/pdf/SR518/518X000.pdf |access-date=January 30, 2013}} SR 518 intersects the Airport Expressway and International Boulevard, signed as SR 99, south of the Tukwila International Boulevard station.{{cite web |date=May 10, 2010 |title=SR 518: Junction S 154th St |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |url=http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/tools/InterchangeViewer/pdf/SR518/518X001.pdf |access-date=January 30, 2013}}{{cite web |date=May 10, 2010 |title=SR 518: Junction SR 99 |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |url=http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/tools/InterchangeViewer/pdf/SR518/518X002.pdf |access-date=January 30, 2013}} The freeway follows the Central Link light rail line into Tukwila and intersects 51st Avenue before an interchange with I-5.{{cite web |date=May 6, 2010 |title=SR 518: Junction 51st Ave S |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |url=http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/tools/InterchangeViewer/pdf/SR518/518X003.pdf |access-date=January 30, 2013}}{{bing maps |publisher=Sound Transit, Microsoft |title=Bing Maps – Central Link light rail |url=http://www.soundtransit.org/Schedules/Central-Link-light-rail?tab=Map |cartography=Nokia |access-date=January 30, 2013}} At the interchange, located northwest of the Westfield Southcenter Mall, the Central Link turns north along I-5 and SR 518 ends as the roadway continues east as I-405 towards Renton.{{cite web |date=January 5, 2009 |title=SR 5 - Exit 154: Junction SR 405/SR 518 |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |url=http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/tools/InterchangeViewer/pdf/SR005/005X154.pdf |access-date=January 30, 2013}}{{google maps |title=State Route 518 |url=https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=WA-518+E&daddr=WA-518+E&hl=en&ll=47.46588,-122.297955&spn=0.0329,0.084543&sll=47.461693,-122.263608&sspn=0.001028,0.002642&geocode=FSdX1AIda1u1-A%3BFR411AId1Ge2-A&mra=dme&mrsp=1&sz=19&t=m&z=14 |access-date=January 30, 2013}}

Every year, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) conducts a series of surveys on its highways in the state to measure traffic volume. This is expressed in terms of annual average daily traffic (AADT), which is a measure of traffic volume for any average day of the year. In 2011, WSDOT calculated that between 38,000 and 102,000 vehicles per day used the highway, mostly between Seattle–Tacoma International Airport and I-5.{{cite web |author=Staff |year=2011 |title=2011 Annual Traffic Report |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |url=http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/travel/pdf/Annual_Traffic_Report_2011.pdf |page=195 |access-date=January 30, 2013}} SR 518 is designated as part of the National Highway System and as a Highway of Statewide Significance for serving Seattle–Tacoma International Airport.{{cite map |publisher=Federal Highway Administration |title=National Highway System: Seattle, WA |url=https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/national_highway_system/nhs_maps/washington/seattle_wa.pdf |date=October 1, 2012 |access-date=January 30, 2013}}{{cite web |title=Transportation Commission List of Highways of Statewide Significance |url=https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2006/03/16/HSSlist2009mod2.pdf |publisher=Washington State Transportation Commission |date=July 26, 2009 |access-date=January 30, 2013}}{{cite map |title=Puget Sound Region: Highways Of Statewide Significance |year=2009 |url=http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/DA142ABB-7C6A-469B-8E81-8B23F579AB28/0/HSSpugetsoundreg2009.pdf |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |access-date=January 30, 2013}}

File:I-5 at WA-518, Tukwila.jpg at its interchange with I-405 and SR 518 in Tukwila.]]

A highway between Burien and Tukwila has existed since the 1890s and was first codified in 1937 as a segment of SSH 1L, which extended from PSH 5 in Renton west to intersect PSH 1 and US 99 in Tukwila and end at SSH 1K south of Sunnydale, later renamed Burien.{{cite map |publisher=United States Geological Survey |title=Washington: Tacoma Quadrangle |date=March 1900 |url=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/washington/txu-pclmaps-topo-wa-tacoma-1895.jpg |scale=1:125,000 |format=JPG |access-date=January 30, 2013}}{{cite book |author=Washington State Legislature |title=Session Laws of the State of Washington |edition=1937 |date=March 18, 1937 |access-date=January 30, 2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dcQ4AAAAIAAJ |publisher=Washington State Legislature |location=Olympia, Washington |chapter=Chapter 207: Classification Public Highways |page=996 |quote=(l) Secondary State Highway No. 1L; beginning at a junction with Primary State Highway No. 5 in the vicinity south of Renton, thence in a westerly direction by the most feasible route to a junction with Primary State Highway No. 1, thence in a westerly direction by the most feasible route to a junction with Secondary State Highway No. 1K near Sunnydale.}} The section between PSH 5 in Renton and PSH 1 in Tukwila was removed in 1957 after the construction of the Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, located on PSH 1 and US 99.{{cite book |author=Washington State Legislature |title=Session Laws of the State of Washington |edition=1957 |year=1957 |access-date=January 30, 2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zck4AAAAIAAJ |publisher=Washington State Legislature |location=Olympia, Washington |chapter=Chapter 172 |page=632}}{{cite map |publisher=United States Geological Survey |title=Seattle, 1958 |year=1958 |url=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/250k/txu-pclmaps-topo-us-seattle-1958.jpg |scale=1:250,000 |format=JPG |access-date=January 30, 2013}} The remaining highway was later re-designated as SR 518 during the 1964 highway renumbering,{{cite web |last=Prahl |first=C. G. |title=Identification of State Highways |url=https://www.wsdot.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2005/04/26/Identification-of-state-highways.pdf |publisher=Washington State Highway Commission, Department of Highways |date=December 1, 1965 |access-date=January 30, 2013}} being codified as such in 1970.{{cite map |publisher=United States Geological Survey |title=Seattle, 1965 |year=1965 |url=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/250k/txu-pclmaps-topo-us-seattle-1965.jpg |scale=1:250,000 |format=JPG |access-date=January 30, 2013}} The western terminus of SR 518, an interchange with SR 509, was opened to traffic in November 1968,{{cite news |title=Slide Blocks Two Lanes of Freeway |date=December 25, 1968 |page=3 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=z7ZWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ZOkDAAAAIBAJ&dq=burien%20freeway&pg=3446%2C2703718 |work=The Spokesman-Review |access-date=January 30, 2013}} while the Airport Expressway was opened in 1970 and widened in the 1990s by the Port of Seattle.{{cite web |title=Port of Seattle Centennial: The 1970s |publisher=Port of Seattle |url=http://www.portseattle100.org/map-and-timeline/1970-1979 |access-date=January 30, 2013}}{{cite news |title=New thoroughfare proposed for Sea-Tac |page=11 |date=December 27, 1990 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=dpMrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=stAFAAAAIBAJ&dq=airport%20expressway%20seatac&pg=6295%2C3003842 |work=Moscow-Pullman Daily News |access-date=January 30, 2013}} The freeway segment between SR 99 and I-5 was built in the 1970s. No major revisions to the route of SR 518 have occurred since the 1990s,{{cite map |publisher=Washington State Department of Transportation |title=Washington State Highways, 2011–2012 |year=2011 |url=http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/14A6187A-B266-4340-A351-D668F89AC231/0/TouristMapFront_withHillshade.pdf |format=PDF |scale=1:842,000 |access-date=January 30, 2013}} however SR 99 from SR 518 to SR 599 was removed to the highway system in 2003.{{cite book |author=Washington State Legislature |title=Session Laws of the State of Washington |edition=2003 |date=January 23, 2003 |publisher=Washington State Legislature |location=Olympia, Washington |chapter=Senate Bill 5376: An Act Relating to the alignment of state route number 99}}

Beginning in 2005, an elevated light rail guideway was constructed on the north side of SR 518, for Sound Transit's Central Link line serving Downtown Seattle, the Rainier Valley and Sea-Tac Airport. The construction led to nighttime closures of the highway and other interruptions until construction finished in 2007.{{cite press release |date=September 27, 2007 |title=Sound Transit completes construction of elevated light rail trackway between Seattle and Tukwila |url=http://www.soundtransit.org/About-Sound-Transit/News-and-events/News-releases/News-release-archive/Completion-of-Elevated |publisher=Sound Transit |access-date=August 22, 2016}} Tukwila International Boulevard station was built to the north of SR 518 at its interchange with SR 99 (International Boulevard) near Sea-Tac Airport.{{cite news |last=Hubbard |first=Ian |date=July 16, 2009 |title=The long bridge to Tukwila |url=http://www.djc.com/news/co/12008114.html |work=Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce |access-date=August 22, 2016}}

{{WAinttop|county=King|length_ref=}}

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|notes=Western terminus, continues as 148th Street}}

{{WAint

|mile=0.83

|road=Des Moines Memorial Drive

|type=incomplete

|notes=No westbound entrance}}

{{WAint

|location=SeaTac

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|mile=0.83

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|road={{jct|state=WA|to1=To|SR|99|road|South 154th Street}}

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|notes=Eastbound exit and westbound entrance}}

{{WAint

|mile=1.62

|mile2=2.31

|road=Sea-Tac Airport

|notes=}}

{{WAint

|mile=2.36

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|road={{jct|state=WA|SR|99}}

|type=incomplete

|notes=Westbound exit and eastbound entrance}}

{{WAint

|location=Tukwila

|lspan=3

|mile=2.69

|mile2=2.94

|road=51st Avenue South, Southcenter Parkway

|type=incomplete

|notes=Eastbound exit and westbound entrance}}

{{WAint

|mile=3.01

|mile2=3.42

|mspan=2

|road={{jct|state=WA|I|5|city1=Seattle|city2=Tacoma|location3=Portland}}

|notes=Eastern terminus; I-5 north exit 154, south exits 154A-B}}

{{WAint

|mile=none

|mile2=none

|road={{jct|state=WA|I|405|dir1=north|city1=Renton|city2=Bellevue}}

|notes=Continuation beyond I-5|type=trans}}

{{Jctbtm|keys=incomplete,trans}}

{{Clear}}

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• [https://www.angelfire.com/wa2/hwysofwastate/sr518.html Highways of Washington State]

{{State highways in Washington related to I-5}}

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518

Category:Transportation in King County, Washington