23rd SW construction closure update: How the 125 will be rerouted

February 16, 2010 at 4:42 pm | In Delridge, Pigeon Point, Transportation, West Seattle news | 17 Comments

Quick followup to last week’s reports/discussion about the closure of a section of 23rd SW southeast of Youngstown Arts Center, starting next Monday, related to nearby homebuilding. Many people wondered about the rerouting plan for Metro’s Route 125. Today we’ve received it from King County’s Rochelle Ogershok – it’s way too complicated to cut and paste here, so take a look at the PDF. She adds, “We will also be sending out an alert to Route 125 subscribers when the details are posted online” (sign up here for alerts) – and suggests anyone affected check the Metro website a day or two ahead of time, in case of last-minute revisions.

17 Comments

  1. This is the same route that Metro used when there was bus service to Pigeon Point years ago. It should be interesting since parking is allowed on both sides of the street now.

    Comment by Pete — 4:46 pm February 16, 2010 #

  2. Pete makes a good point. It will definitely be interesting. I can’t imagine they will not suspend parking on one side of 20th during the re-route, since it will be an extremely tight squeeze for the bus otherwise!

    Comment by kryptonite — 4:56 pm February 16, 2010 #

  3. This is ridiculous.

    Comment by that girl — 5:28 pm February 16, 2010 #

  4. wow.

    those turns onto and off of Andover, and winding around Pigeon point are going to be crazy. are the turning radii of the corners sufficient ?

    maybe JDR Develop. could pay for a shuttle to follow that circuitous route, and the 125 could follow the snow re-route ?

    Comment by sam — 6:02 pm February 16, 2010 #

  5. That’s a great idea, sam; a smaller bus/shuttle through the neighborhood would be great. As one who uses that route daily, the spot where Charlestown meets 21st is pretty tight. Does this bus run 24/7?

    Comment by susan — 6:12 pm February 16, 2010 #

  6. Folks the bus can make all of these turns. There was a metro bus that followed this route for a number of years before the route was discontinued in the first round of route cuts after Eyman’s first initiative. By the way do not call Rochelle Ogershok about this problem since she is jsut a media relations person and refers you on to another lady named Kerry (not sure if this is how she spells it) and her number is 206.684.1582. I have only been able to leave her messages and have not had a return phone call.

    Comment by Pete — 7:04 pm February 16, 2010 #

  7. There will be school buses, metro buses, commuters, college students, parents driving their kids, and kids walking and biking to/from school all on the same roads.

    !Please take extra care and leave some time in your schedule to be (patiently) stuck behind a bus!

    Comment by toniw — 9:53 pm February 16, 2010 #

  8. This is going to affect a LOT of neighbors in Puget Ridge. I live on Dawson, and this is our MAIN road for entering or exiting from the north (that’s me and hundreds of other neighbors and SSCC students). It is NOT a little inconvenience. As others have pointed out, turning left onto Andover from southbound Delridge is going to be a nightmare. 21st Ave SW in Pigeon Point is about to get a ton of traffic, and so will that little 23rd Ave cutoff of the main 23rd Ave. This permit from SDOT seems poorly thought through.
    These quotes are from our previous dealings with SDOT: “We can’t put speed bumps on that road, it’s an arterial.” “We can’t come and sand that road when it’s icy (this after multiple accidents in front of our house) it’s not an arterial”. ahem…

    Comment by Mary Claire — 10:21 pm February 16, 2010 #

  9. Mary Claire- it’s funny, re: arterial.
    there is a sign at the top of the hill where 21st turns to go down the hill: “Arterial turns”-

    I wonder if SFD, etc are aware of the detour. I’m sure they are pretty set in their ways as far as heading to emergencies, and wonder if they’ve been informed. say a fire truck heads off to puget ridge and then end up going down to Home Depot instead to get to PR ? I guess I don’t know what the actual time difference is.

    Comment by sam — 8:00 am February 17, 2010 #

  10. re: “We can’t put speed bumps on that road, it’s an arterial.”
    Whenever you hear SDOT say that, ask them how it is then that they can install speed bumps on Beach Drive!!

    Comment by flynlo — 10:27 am February 17, 2010 #

  11. Been through that one before, flynlo. Beach Drive, believe it or not, is NOT an arterial.

    Comment by WSB — 10:43 am February 17, 2010 #

  12. I have been looking all over the Metro website and cannot find a notice of the upcoming Route 125 changes. I’m sure glad the Blog has the info, but why doesn’t the Metro website!?

    The comment about emergency services is a really good point.

    Also, sorry to distract with the arterials/speed bump comment about SDOT, just had to make the point of what we are dealing with…

    Comment by Mary Claire — 11:10 am February 17, 2010 #

  13. I started pestering them for it on Friday, and again yesterday, and got it late yesterday from the media department – pursuing information is my fulltime job, after all. Not to say this is the case here but in my experience, many government agencies are stuck with having to route web updates through one or two overworked web-specific people – rather than having a web content-management system that is easy for anyone to use – so the information doesn’t get online as fast as it should. Therefore, you will often get information through the media – provided we ask them for it! – faster than it will turn up online. Here’s hoping someday it will all become seamless (which is what’s happening in the news industry, bit by bit) so that the web is just part of everyone’s job, easily and quickly, like phones, postal mail, etc. …

    Comment by WSB — 11:27 am February 17, 2010 #

  14. TR – I guess it’s all a matter of definition!

    http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/streetclassmaps.htm Defines Beach Drive as a “minor arterial” just as it does the chunk of 23rd in question.

    http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/ntcp_physical.htm Defines the difference between a “speed hump” which can be placed on a neighborhood street and a “speed cushion” (which beach drive has) that can be placed on arterials . Other city pages define “arterial speed limits” with maps which also show beach drive as an arterial.

    Comment by flynlo — 12:51 pm February 17, 2010 #

  15. So this is just temporary, I’m hoping? I really would not like a city bus running up and down our quiet street all day/night. Oh and are there going to be stops up there, or is it just going to be using the streets as a bypass?

    Comment by PPointer — 4:32 pm February 17, 2010 #

  16. I guess I am wondering about the effect on the neighborhood with the added bus traffic? Not just the parking issue but also the noise, loitering, location of any bus stops and the added pollution? I know that the bus used to route this way but that was days long ago and I want to know how this is going to change the neighborhood dynamic, even if for a short time. We are used to a very pleasant, quiet and private sort of neighborhood. Maybe even a little false sense of security. I also agree that there may be some issues with traffic congestion and emergency situations too. Around Charleston that is a very blind corner and buses act as if they own the road, will this be the cause of more accidents and other neighborhood problems that we are not use to?

    Comment by H — 4:52 pm February 17, 2010 #

  17. my question is why can’t the bus turn right at 21st & just go straight to 22nd? there is no need to tour the entire n’hood.

    Comment by that girl — 11:18 am February 18, 2010 #

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