West Seattle traffic alerts: Delridge/Orchard light; trucks on bridge

Two ongoing traffic alerts that we should mention here as the afternoon commute approaches:

*Delridge/Orchard intersection lights are out. “It’s a 4-way stop,” Sage reports via Twitter.

*Port-bound truck traffic has been backed up for hours, according to reader reports, on upper and lower bridges. We note that the low bridge has opened multiple times today, so that might have something to do with it. You can see the approach to the low bridge “live” here.

Libby January 14, 2015 (2:08 pm)

#21 from downtown to Westwood rerouted to lower bridge. Two #21s are stuck in the heavy traffic under the bridge.

Eric January 14, 2015 (2:23 pm)

I was down in Sodo, and traffic was backed up on 1st to Lander, and on Alaska (for the low bridge) about the same.

I found the fastest way back to West Seattle was to take the viaduct. Gets you right over all that mess.

lala2mom January 14, 2015 (2:26 pm)

Not a “4-way stop,” but a complete stop. Back up started on I5 south just after merge from Century Link field area. Awful under the bridge as well. I finally was able to get through from 1st avenue–had to weave between the trucks waiting in line to exit to the port.
There must be a better way to handle this when the port traffic is messed up. ARGHHH!!

Annette January 14, 2015 (3:07 pm)

Port traffic was the cause as far as I could tell. I bypassed the upper bridge only to get stuck on the lower one. Then I had to do a u-turn, take 99S and go West Marginal Way, which was west of the port traffic. The trucks heading to the port should not be allowed to jam up both the upper and lower ridges. It’s insane.

Steven January 14, 2015 (3:26 pm)

The Port of Seattle should be smart enough to know when truck traffic is going to exceed gate capacity. Trucks should be sent to a holding area until congestion clears. Public roads should not become the de facto parking lot for port business. Send it all to Tacoma as far as I’m concerned!