West Seattle Blog…

TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: What’s up for the rest of Tuesday

November 13, 2012 at 8:28 am | In West Seattle news, West Seattle traffic alerts | 11 Comments

(No Bridge camera working right now, so here’s the Viaduct! See other cameras on the WSB Traffic page)
Apologies for the delayed appearance of the daily traffic/transit tracker – no major trouble so far this morning; we’ll keep watch for the rest of the day. For bus riders, note that today is the scheduled start of more evening changes – additional RapidRide runs, and changed “schedule instructions,” as announced last week – so we’ll be interested to hear how the commute home goes.

11 Comments

1. Warning for those taking the 22 during the day. A bunch of us froze in the rain yesterday at the Alaska Junction Bay 6 waiting for the 2:00 pm 22 bus. Bus Trip Away on internet, posted Metro schedules all showed On Time at 2:00 pm. Bus was there locked and no driver. At 2:08 the driver showed up with coffee and donut and said that the time on her trip card was changed to 2:08. She showed it to us. There was no sign at bus stop showing a schedule change. Driver thought the change was so a Middle School dismissal would allow kids to take the bus without waiting an hour. Nice of Metro to take the kids into account and adjust the schedule (remember the 22 only runs every hour now), but BAD OF METRO to not post at the bus stop. The driver did not know if any other times had been changed. Still, because the 22 makes a loop, every time after 2:00 is now “off.” That means those waiting at Westwood Village, for example, may miss the bus and have to wait an hour. I emailed Metro and asked them to post a revised schedule at the bus stops.

   Comment by Iggy — 9:35 am November 13, 2012 #

2. Strange – The on-line schedule still shows route 22 leaving WS Jct Bay 6 at 2:00 PM. However, it appears the on-line Trip Planner has been updated and shows leaving it leaving at 2:07 PM.

   Granted, the change is online seven or eight minutes, but since Metro says allow 5 minutes for a transfer, passengers will miss transfers along the route if they can’t rely on the posted schedule. Since it’s so simple to update the on-line schedule, you’d think this would be a simple fix for Metro!

   Comment by Steve V — 9:54 am November 13, 2012 #

3. Not sure there’s much common sense going around at Metro. One thing I noticed while driving yesterday-that bumped out Rapid Ride stop in front of Bank/ SHA building on California Ave-across from Zeeks-is a hazard & a road rage incident just waiting to happen. Saw a bus that had turned North onto California from west-bound Fauntleroy Way stop there-for a long time-the problem is the stop is just far enough north that cars turning after the bus don’t see it-they turn & there’s no place for them to be-except blocking the intersection-they are stuck until the bus moves-preventing any other cars from moving in every direction!!!What a mess! I don’t know that the bus stop could ever be moved-but by being bumped out like that is really bad planning. I’m sure the mantra at Metro is-well it’s a Rapid Ride stop & all RR stops have to be designed the same way no matter how it messes with traffic!

   Comment by Anne — 11:13 am November 13, 2012 #

4. Sorry-I’ll bet my previous post seems confusing-the bus was going EAST-bound on Fauntleroy Way-turned left(Northbound) on California Ave SW!

   Comment by Anne — 11:45 am November 13, 2012 #

5. ANNE

   One is not supposed to enter an intersection unless you know you can clear it even if the light is green when you enter it. It is the drivers that block the intersection that are at fault for entering it and should be ticketed.

   Comment by questioner — 12:03 pm November 13, 2012 #

6. So what was that huge traffic snarl in downtown Seattle about? I headed in around 10 am and the center lane was blocked. Then when I left town about 45 minutes later, the onramps to I-5 near Denny were blocked by motorcycle cops. Any idea?

   I had to zig zag through Capitol Hill to get home via Beacon Hill at Columbia. On the way I blundered into the trolley car construction on Broadway which went on for blocks and blocks. Fun times.
   Thanks, ~z

   Comment by zephyr — 12:40 pm November 13, 2012 #

7. There was a particularly ugly-sounding crash at Yale/Howell – truck hit-and-run vs. a bicycle rider. I won’t repeat it here but the medic-unit radio traffic did not sound good. SPD Blotter has the story at or near the top: http://spdblotter.seattle.gov

   Comment by WSB — 12:59 pm November 13, 2012 #

8. Questioner — I know that’s the law— it wasn’t me in the mix just an observer–what I was trying to say not too well I guess is that it looks clear until you actually make the turn. All it takes is one car that commits to the turn to mess things up the other three directions. Once committed there is no where to go . When that bus stop was just a regular stop at the curb. – there was usually room for cars to pass. I also know that it was usually hard for the bus to get back out into traffic– hence Rapid Ride . No solutions here- but would not surprise me to see tempers get out of control at this intersection soon.

   Comment by Anne — 2:11 pm November 13, 2012 #

9. Ugh. That sounds horrible. One of those big tandem dump trucks hitting a cyclist. I have often experienced those big dump trucks being very aggressive. I realize they are a necessary part of our economy, but still regard them as a menace and give them wide berth. They have no problem brushing past us in our cars like we are chickens to be scattered. ~z

   Comment by zephyr — 2:30 pm November 13, 2012 #

10. Cheers on the added RR C lines during the evening commute! I’ve seen open busses each around 10 minutes apart at 3rd and Seneca around 6:00 pm. And to boot my 57 is only 10 minutes late. I hope we’ve gotten past the worst.

    Comment by Glenn — 6:05 pm November 13, 2012 #

11. You are correct anne and not the first to point it out!

    Comment by denbol — 9:42 pm November 13, 2012 #

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