West Seattle road work: SW Orchard lane closure continuing

Looking ahead to next week, and a few weeks beyond: Seattle Public UtilitiesEmily Reardon sent word going into the holiday weekend that its work at Delridge/Orchard isn’t over yet:

Quick update re. SPU’s ongoing sewer improvement project near Delridge Way SW and SW Orchard St. The daytime single lane restriction on SW Orchard Street (east of Delridge Way SW) will remain in place off-and-on through mid-June as crews complete sidewalk work and paving. The lane will remain closed Monday through Saturday, 7:30 a.m. – 4 p.m., and will be opened to traffic during non-work hours. During the closure, all westbound traffic will be diverted to the eastbound lane with the assistance of a traffic flagger.

The project page for this site, upgrading the combined-sewer-overflow-reducing facilities, ” target=”_blank”>is here.

5 Replies to "West Seattle road work: SW Orchard lane closure continuing"

  • trickycoolj May 26, 2015 (1:57 pm)

    Do they have any plans to fix the strange lane layout they created? The east and westbound traffic literally face each other and one afternoon waiting at the light a semi truck couldn’t pass through eastbound because west bound traffic stacked up so bad. I’m really nervous there’s a serious head on collision waiting to happen here.

  • sam-c May 27, 2015 (10:14 am)

    Yes, the new lane layouts are incredibly wonky. Since there are 2 lanes going in each direction, that have a merging space of about 1.24 car lengths, they should make 1 of those lanes (in each direction) a left turn only lane, and add left turn arrows. (especially since that is how each of the lanes are kinda used already) SDOT really screwed up the intersection.

  • sam-c May 30, 2015 (12:04 pm)

    FTR we witnessed an almost head on collision yesterday afternoon, exactly as trickycoolj predicts. There was a car in the left lane, waiting to go east through this intersection. As the light changed, they proceeded through the intersection and kept going straight, never merging to the right once past Delridge and on Orchard. They were oblivious. A car comes flying around the curve, heading westbound on Orchard, and had to slam on their brakes to avoid a head on collision with the dumb-@%*& in the wrong lane. The car proceeding eastbound on Delridge in the wrong lane was a car we’ve seen in the neighborhood. So, if people from the area can’t even figure it out…. well, good luck to everyone else as it seems like no-one pays attention when they drive, anymore.

    • WSB May 30, 2015 (12:16 pm)

      SPU’s Emily Reardon read the comments here and sent this:

      I wanted to follow-up on a couple of reader comments re. the lane configuration on SW Orchard St. at Delridge Way SW.

      SW Orchard St. is currently in a temporary configuration while construction continues. As a result, the eastbound and westbound lanes curve as the roadway narrows from four lanes to two. This is especially pronounced with the intermittent daytime lane restriction currently in place. When lanes are restricted, flaggers are on-site to help facilitate traffic through the area. Please drive slowly and obey all traffic commands.

      SW Orchard St. is scheduled to be repaved and receive final roadway striping this summer, and the final configuration will make for a less abrupt curve as the street transitions from four lanes to two. At this time, there are no plans to create left turn lanes from Orchard onto Delridge.

  • sam-c May 30, 2015 (1:04 pm)

    thanks for the follow up. My comment above should actually read “The car proceeding eastbound on Orchard in the wrong lane was a car we’ve seen in the neighborhood” (not Delridge)
    hopefully the lane configurations and merging are better after the project is complete, but that would mean people need to pay attention to the giant vehicle they’re driving, so I guess we’re all hoping to be lucky.

Sorry, comment time is over.