Overlay (Street Paving)

A construction roller flattens a street.

Overlay Program
The City of Kirkland repaves up to 10 lane-miles of its more traveled streets every year. The Capital Improvement Program pays for about half of those lane-miles. The other half is funded by the Streets Levy, which voters approved in 2012.
Repaving a street can extend its useful life by 10 to 20 years.

The process begins in early summer, with a task known as "lowering iron," during which workers remove utility lids to prevent the damage they would otherwise sustain during the grinding stage.

The grinding stage is when contracted crews use milling machines to remove the top three to five inches of a street's asphalt. Once crews have removed the street's damaged layer of asphalt, they are ready--assuming good weather--to lay down its new asphalt surface.

Kirkland's goal for its street preservation program is to improve the score of its arterial network to 70 on the Pavement Condition Index. The street network's Pavement Condition Index score at the end of 2015 was 65.4. In 2018, it was 70. Some of that improvement, however, can be attributed to a change in how the City measures its street conditions.

Map showing likely streets to be overlayed in 2025 including central way, 116th Ave NE south of NE 60th Street, and 18th Avenue from Market to Crestwoods Park including the park parking lot

Previous updates

(August 7, 2025) --18th Avenue is paved from Market Street to Crestwoods Park. Kirkland’s contractor will alternate traffic through the project area as they raise the utilities to the new road surface. Crestwoods Park parking lot will be paved at the end of August.

116th Avenue Northeast will alternate traffic with flaggers as permanent striping is applied August 14 and 15.

Central Way Street Preservation: Kirkland’s contractor expects to begin daytime work along Central Way on August 18. Kirkland is paving the street from Market Street to 6thStreet. Most work will occur during the day, but final paving is expected to occur at night in mid-September.

(July 31, 2025) -- 116th Avenue Northeast paving work is complete. Now the asphalt needs to cure before the final pavement markings can be added. Bike lanes will be added where space exists, and sharrow's will be added where there are no dedicated bike lanes. Work now shifts to 18th Avenue, where Kirkland's contractor has been repairing curb ramps, and curb and gutters. This project will also pave the Crestwoods Park parking lot the last week of August.

CENTRAL WAY -- Yard signs have been on Central Way from Market Street to 6th Street for weeks, and notification now shifts to businesses and residents near the street. Work is expected to begin August 18. Day work will prepare the street within a few weeks, and it's expected that the actual paving will occur at night over the course of a few nights.

(July 24, 2025) -- 116th Avenue Northeast from Northeast 60th Street top layer of asphalt has been removed, and subsurface repairs are underway. Concrete work is ongoing on 18th Avenue. Central Way Paving is expected to begin concrete curb, gutter, and curb ramp repairs on August 18. Utilities will be lowered, of which there are many.

(July 17, 2025) -- Night work begins on Monday, July 21 from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. milling 116th Avenue Northeast. The project expects multiple nights of milling, roadway subsurface repair, and paving. Concrete ramp, curb and gutter repairs are ongoing on 18th Avenue. Crews are expected to move from 116th Avenue NE to 18th Avenue, where a separate crew is currently working on repairing damaged curb, gutter and ramps.

(July 3, 2025) -- Work is expected to begin Monday, July 7 on 18th Avenue for the 2025 Overlay project. Concrete curb, gutter, and ramp repairs. City Council awarded the Central Way Street Preservation project's construction contract at it's July 1, 2025 meeting.

(June 27, 2025) -- Construction of the 2025 overlay program is expected to begin on July 7. First tasks are replacing curb ramps and lowering utilities. Schedule updates will be posted next week for the first week of construction.

(June 20, 2025) -- Award of the Central Way Paving contract is expected to head to City Council at it's July 1 meeting. Yard signs informing drivers of upcoming paving this summer were deployed on 116th Avenue Northeast and 18th Avenue. Once Council takes action on the construction contract, the same signs will be deployed on Central Way.

(June 12, 2025) -- City staff believe that the 2025 Overlay project will begin in early July. No word on estimated start date for the Central Way Paving yet.

(May 29, 2025) --Citywide map posted to this website showing streets being repaved in 2025. The 2025 Street Preservation: Overlay contract is headed to City Council on June 3 to award the construction contract (bullets 1&2). The Central Way Paving project (bullets 3&4) is out to bid, opening bids on June 6

116th Avenue Northeast, south of Northeast 60th Street to the City limits
18th Avenue from Market Street to Crestwoods Park, including Crestwoods Park parking lot
Central Way from 6th Street South to Market Street
Lake Street from Central Way to Park Lane

(May 22, 2025) -- City Staff will be updating this website with a new map next week, showing a citywide view of the overlay streets to be fixed this summer.

(Feb. 27, 2025) --The City of Kirkland's 2025 overlay program added streets in Bridle Trails and Norkirk to the list of streets it will be repaving this summer. In Bridle Trails, the City will repave 116th Avenue Northeast, from Northeast 60th Street to Kirkland's southern city limits. In Norkirk, it will repave 18th Avenue, from Market Street to Crestwoods Park.

(Jan. 24, 2025) -- The 2025 Overlay Program is expecting to pave a number of arterials in Kirkland. In addition to the regularly scheduled streets in need of maintenance, the streets around Evergreen Hospital are scheduled to be resurfaced. Additionally, Central Way from 6th Street to Market Street is also planned to be paved this summer. The paving of Central Way was delayed when downtown merchants championed the delayed start of the Lake Street Pedestrian Scramble project.

Discussions

Timeline

Street selection and design

November - April

Upgrade sidewalk curb ramps

Sept - August

Neighborhood street preservation

August - September

Repaving streets

June - October

Weekly updates

(September 11, 2025) -- Central Way Paving is in full effect, as the grinding off of the surface layer from 6th Street to Market Street. Subgrade repairs are scheduled for Wednesday-Friday, September 17-29. Night paving expected the week of September 22 and will close Central Way for those nights. Residents at apartments/condos who's only ingress/egress is onto Central Way will be permitted access but may have long delays. Residents who expect to leave/return are requested to park on local streets for those nights.

(September 4, 2025) -- Crestwoods Park parking lot is complete. The utility adjustments need to be addressed on 18th Avenue and in Crestwoods Park.

Central Way grinding from 6th Street to Market Street begins Monday, September 8. It's expected to take at least three days. Concrete repairs are nearly complete on Central Way. Night work to follow the street repairs.

(August 28, 2025) -- Central Way will continue to have sidewalk repairs as well as utility manhole adjustments in the roadway that will temporarily shift traffic around workers. The tree removal occurred this week, and grinding is expected to begin the week of September 8.

(August 21, 2025) -- Central Way enters construction from 6th Street to Market Street. Concrete repairs are underway on Central Way. A tree on the north side of the street near the steepest parking lot, currently scheduled for Tuesday, August 26th.

Crestwoods Park parking will be closed to be paved the week of August 25.

(August 14, 2025) --18th Avenue is paved from Market Street to Crestwoods Park. Kirkland’s contractor will alternate traffic through the project area as they raise the utilities to the new road surface. Crestwoods Park parking lot will be paved at the end of August, expected the week of August 25.

116th Avenue Northeast will alternate traffic with flaggers as permanent striping is applied August 14 and 15.

Updates to this page are posted, at minimum, every Thursday.

2012 Streets Levy

2019 Streets Levy. Kirkland's voters approved a streets levy in 2012 to provide the City with the resources necessary to maintain a functional street network. Every year since, the City of Kirkland has released an accountability report on stewardship of those funds and progress toward those goals. Read the 2019 Levy report.(PDF, 2MB)