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.

Previous updates

(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.

(Sept. 19, 2024) -- All sections of roadway have been repaved for the 2024 Overlay Program. There are remaining tasks on all streets but will have minor, temporary impacts.

(Sept. 18, 2024) -- Grinding is complete on 124th Avenue NE, and the contractor will return for the final paving this week. Work is weather dependent.

(Sept. 17, 2024) -- Kirkland's overlay contractor will grind and repave 124th Avenue NE next to Evergreen Hospital overnight, beginning tonight as early as 7 p.m. Work is expected to occur for 2-3 nights, depending on amount of repairs needed to the sub-base system. The road will be closed from Northeast 128th Street to Northeast 130th Lane, and will reopen by 5 a.m. each day.

(Sept. 6, 2024) -- The NE 132nd Street overlay will return Monday, Sept. 9 to continue paving the street. Night work is expected for up to three night shifts to complete the street overlay. Work on the residential street of NE 139th Street and NE 140th Street is also expected to begin Monday, Sept. 9.

(Sept. 4, 2024) -- An additional street is being added to the 2024 overlay program. 124th Avenue Northeast, from Northeast 128th Street to Northeast 130th Lane is failing and requires a full pavement reconstruction. Concrete work will begin the week of Sept. 9. Grinding and paving the street will occur at night, during the week of Sept. 16.

(August 30, 2024) -- Kirkland's overlay contractor will begin repairs to NE 132nd Street beginning Tuesday night, Sept. 3 and will then repave the roadway. ~~Night work is likely to occur on Friday, September 6 to complete NE 132nd Street~~. Repaving will then take place on the residential streets in this year's project, NE 139th Street and NE 140th Street, the week of Sept. 9.

(August 20, 2024) -- Northeast 132nd Street's contractor will conduct night work to overlay the street from 100th Avenue Northeast to 112th Avenue Northeast. The traffic control will begin setup at 8 p.m. and be removed by 6 a.m. Night work is expected to begin Monday, August 26 and be complete by Friday, September 6. The road will be controlled by flaggers with Uniformed Police Officers controlling the intersections.

(May 30, 2024) -- The 2024 Street Preservation Program will begin construction on August 5th, on Northeast 132nd Street. The contractor will rebuild 20 curb ramps, lower utilities, and overlay from 100th Avenue Northeast to 112th Avenue Northeast.

The following streets will also be overlayed.

Northeast 139th Street, from Northeast 140th Street to 97th Avenue Northeast
Northeast 140th Street, from 93rd Avenue Northeast to its street-end

Additionally, Lakeside Industries will also build a raised crosswalk at O.O. Denny Park across Holmes Point Drive. This improved crossing compliments the two speed cushions installed last fall.

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

(Mar. 20, 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.

Updates to this page are posted 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)