Spokane Street Viaduct: 1 ramp moving fast, 1 ramp closing soon

News tonight about “the other viaduct” – the Spokane Street Viaduct, aka the section of the West Seattle Bridge that’s between 99 and I-5. Construction of the new eastbound offramp at 4th Avenue South (SDOT photo above) is running ahead of schedule. Meantime, the closure of the 1st Avenue South onramp to the westbound WS Bridge is now just a month away. Here’s the latest from SDOT:

Work to complete the new eastbound 4th Ave S off-ramp from the S Spokane St Viaduct is ahead of schedule. Originally set to open for use by December 2010, the new ramp is likely to open in late summer or early fall. Once utility work and paving are completed, expected by early summer, eastbound lower Spokane Street will be reopened and crews can then join the new ramp to the existing elevated structure.

This is the final construction step in the creation of the new off-ramp, but it will require the closure of the eastbound right-hand lane of the viaduct between 1st and 4th avenues for approximately two months.

As a reminder, the next major milestone in the South Spokane Street Viaduct Project,
which began the fall of 2008, is around the corner. On May 17, 2010, crews will close the westbound 1st Ave S on-ramp and prepare it for demolition. This makes way for work to widen the upper roadway 41 feet to the north, and build a new on and off-ramp along 1st Ave S that should open in the fall of 2011.

In the sixteen months during which there will be no access to the Spokane Street Viaduct from surface streets in SODO, southbound vehicles approaching Spokane on 1st Ave S will be detoured to the low level swing bridge to get to West Seattle. To reduce the expected congestion on this bridge during construction, SDOT is working with the U.S. Coast Guard, the Port of Seattle and others, and planning for signal timing adjustments and uniformed police officers to help guide traffic. Other alternative routes are noted in the attached map.

The 60-year-old S Spokane St Viaduct carries 65,000-70,000 vehicles daily between I-5 and the West Seattle Bridge. Once this project is completed, the elevated roadway between 6th Ave S and E Marginal Way will have wider lanes and shoulders, a new westbound acceleration/deceleration lane, and an additional eastbound lane between 1st Ave S and 4th Ave S. The project also includes seismic strengthening of the viaduct, and a new 10-foot wide sidewalk on the north side of lower S Spokane St that can accommodate pedestrians and bicycles.

16 Replies to "Spokane Street Viaduct: 1 ramp moving fast, 1 ramp closing soon "

  • Lou April 14, 2010 (9:11 pm)

    Yikes…everytime there is an update it seems like something new pops up…I had no idea about the eastbound right hand lane closure: “…it will require the closure of the eastbound right-hand lane of the viaduct between 1st and 4th avenues for approximately two months.” WOW. I’m betting that will create backups a long way back up Fauntleroy and 35th.

  • Beachcomber April 14, 2010 (9:21 pm)

    OMG! They’re going to close the right eastbound lane – the one that sits largely empty during rush hour – for two whole months! eight whole weeks! 60 whole days! what will we ever do?

  • Smitty April 14, 2010 (10:30 pm)

    Ever since they reduced the 1st avenue south exit(eastbound) to one lane the exit to NB 99 has been backed up all the way to 35th. Contrary to beachcomers comments this will only make the problem worse! Gotta luv big gubmint!

  • Whiskey April 14, 2010 (11:02 pm)

    >>Gotta luv big gubmint!<<

    Yeah, let's just let the thing rot…

    It's about time the whole works got upgraded. It was a fiasco as it was.

  • WMF April 15, 2010 (6:43 am)

    TWENTY ELEVEN???? Ok, I’m not the most informed person by any means, but I swear I read that this whole waste of tax dollars and resources etc was supposed to be over by this Summer… Am I the only one who feels nothing has been accomplished by this construction, aside from employing a few construction workers? The bridge is fine as is… I dont hit people when I drive on it, and my vehicle isnt exactly petite… forgive me for being bitter, but this lengthy stretch of construction has directly affected my pocketbook… where’s the payoff?

  • Tony S April 15, 2010 (7:21 am)

    You people crack me up. You complain about the traffic, then when a plan is implemented and underway its “big government intruding on our rights” and “it’s not accomplishing anything”. I guess it’s true that reading the comments sections of blogs will indeed lower your IQ.

    Let’s see: “BIG Gubmint” – who else is around to build roads and bridges? I don’t see any private industries in the business of paying for them.

    “Nothing accomplished”: new off ramps, a new set of lanes each direction when completed.

    Are the closures and detours a golden pain the a** for the next year? Absolutely. I’ve been very frustrated at times with the maze to get places. But that’s how NEW CONSTRUCTION works.

  • Alki Area April 15, 2010 (7:51 am)

    @Smitty “Gotta luv big gubmint!”

    LOL…I love the crazy. Unless your “non-big gubmint” friends can muster up some magic and work a spell to fix this, you’re being silly and anti-reality.

    Unless you have a supernatural road crew, building stuff (like making the bridge WIDER) requires temporary closers and inconveniences during construction. Sorry that reality clashes with your views and wishes, but reality is just reality. Construction of new bridge and ramp CONNECTED to a working still running road will have inconveniences. Even if you had a magic “gubmint” with 1 employee with super powers, or 10,000 employees…this would work exactly the same.

  • Jill Loblaw April 15, 2010 (7:54 am)

    I agree with what Tony S. said and then some. No one wants to deal with all this construction but the end result will last for decades, and when the building of apts. and condos begin again, increased ability to handle the new traffic will payoff in a large way.

  • KBear April 15, 2010 (8:33 am)

    “Gotta luv big gubmint!”

    Yeah, all those roads we drive on are nothing but a HUGE GOVERNMENT HANDOUT to automobile owners.

  • austin April 15, 2010 (8:41 am)

    Why look to the future when you can complain about the present, now.

  • Matt April 15, 2010 (5:26 pm)

    What a bunch of complainers. This is one of the most dangerous roads in the city. We’re getting a brand new road to West Seattle. It should ease congestion, and be overall nicer to drive on. They’re finishing pieces of it early… and we’re complaining about big government. Oh wait – Big Gubmint, dunno where you learned to spell – but be home schooled away from that pesky BG.

  • sam April 15, 2010 (6:08 pm)

    lol Kbear.
    yeah, I’d rather suffer through upgrades and improvements that to hear them say, ‘uh, it’s unsafe, we have to close it.’

    speaking of, Dow C. was on KUOW this morning. aside from mentioning that his commute from WS was especially awful today, he seemed particularly cognizant of the need for transportation out of WS. he mentioned alternative means ‘something like the water taxi’ and eventual light rail in addition to added road capacity.

  • I. Ponder April 15, 2010 (8:43 pm)

    I love my bicycle. I’ve been commuting past all the car backups as fast as I can pedal. Easy to get around all the construction mess. West Seattle has great bicycle routes. The low bridge is wonderful. You can combine bike/bus/water taxi or leave your car on Avalon and bicycle over the low bridge. No good car options at all.

  • sam April 15, 2010 (9:13 pm)

    I love my feet. they get me to work.

  • John April 15, 2010 (9:45 pm)

    One big yet unpublished issue facing people returning to West Seattle from SODO, when the First Ave to WS bridge ramp is demolished, is that the trains serving the terminals sit, meaning often not even moving, blocking most of the roads approaching the lower bridge. If you have ever had to deal with the railroads on anything, they don’t care! They have no incentive whatsoever to accommodate the people of West Seattle trying to get home from the SODO area (like me). This will effect bus schedules too if they are re-routed over the low bridge. You may have cooperation with the Port and Coast Guard but it will seem irrelevant if you cannot even get to the low bridge. Be prepared for 18 months of pure heartburn!

  • sam April 15, 2010 (9:50 pm)

    WSB has mentioned that closure many times.

    I think one time in the comments, I recalled a situation of sitting for 20 minutes, waiting as a train maneuvered back and forth at the intersection of E Marginal and where you turn to get onto the low bridge. at the time, we debated about turning around and going another way, but after May 17, there won’t be another way.
    ( I was responding to a comment about the 1st ave access to high bridge – which seems to have temporarily disappeared. just a disclaimer that I’m not talking to ghosts)

Sorry, comment time is over.