The latest on the Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project and the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Project – both of which will affect West Seattle drivers in a major way, as we’ve reported here for the past few years – comprises two of our three toplines from tonight’s Delridge Neighborhoods District Council meeting at Youngstown Arts Center. Read on for the highlights:

SPOKANE STREET VIADUCT WIDENING PROJECT: SDOT’s Stuart Goldsmith said all’s going well and reiterated what was announced last week – the eastbound offramp at 4th Avenue So. is ahead of schedule and could open in just a few months. But then there’s the big closure many are dreading – the shutdown of the 1st Avenue South onramp on the westbound side, still scheduled for May 17th, which means lots more westbound traffic on the low bridge. So far, Goldsmith said, still no permission from the feds to limit that bridge’s openings during afternoon rush hour. As for transit, he said Metro will watch how things go once the reroute (reiterated here) kicks in, and then summer schedules will be revised to show the new running times for the bus routes that use 1st. He also mentioned programmable traffic signs to be in place on 1st and 4th telling drivers whether the low bridge is open or closed and how long the expected delays are.

ALASKAN WAY VIADUCT REPLACEMENT PROJECT: WSDOT’s Matt Preedy (a West Seattleite) said this is the low-impact year for the project, relatively speaking. He recapped some of the SODO-area traffic revisions (reported here last month) that’ll kick in before tunnel work starts. Questions for him included the fate of the waterfront parking that’s currently under The Viaduct; it’ll be gone when that structure’s torn down, Preedy said. (Teardown isn’t scheduled before 2016.)

Side note: If you have ongoing questions about the Viaduct and related projects, another open house is coming up in West Seattle — 6-8 pm next Tuesday, April 27th, at Madison Middle School.

CRIME/SAFETY UPDATE: Southwest Precinct Community Police Team Officer Kevin McDaniel, who handles much of the area for which the Delridge Neighborhood District Council has jurisdiction, had an item of note: The site of the former used-goods store on Delridge has had some trouble with “former patrons” removing plywood and letting themselves in; Officer McDaniel says arrests have resulted, and he’s working with the building’s new owner to get a trespassing contract in place (so that police can make quicker work of intruders).

Delridge Neighborhoods District Council, with reps from major neighborhood and community groups on the east side of West Seattle, meets the third Wednesday of each month, 7 pm, at Youngstown.