TRAFFIC ALERT: Crash on westbound West Seattle Bridge

6:21 PM: Thanks to the texter who tipped us to this: SFD and SPD are responding to a crash reported on the westbound bridge near the Highway 99 overpass.

6:27 PM: Two left lanes are blocked. Here’s the view from SDOT via Twitter:

Collision on WB West Seattle Bridge at SR 99, blocking both left lane. Traffic getting by in gore area. Expect delays pic.twitter.com/ApFzUtwNAY

— seattledot (@seattledot) August 27, 2015

Looks like this will be a problem if you’re getting on the westbound bridge from I-5 but not if you’re getting on it from 99.

8:05 PM: All clear as of about half an hour ago (sorry for the delayed update).

stb August 26, 2015 (6:26 pm)

Traffic barely moving.

sophista-tiki August 26, 2015 (7:09 pm)

I came off of Beacon Hi;ll and almost immediately got stuck. Was able to get in the far rt lane, exit at first ave , take the left at Lander and cruise across the low bridge , no traffic.

Mr Elliott August 26, 2015 (7:21 pm)

I-90 West was smooth – which is highly unusual for a Wednesday – from Bellevue. And then came the merge lane for I-5 South. Smooth became sluggish and then went to utter nonsense in the merge lane for West Seattle Bridge. I hope the drivers and passengers involved in the three-car accident are safe and unharmed.

As I sat I traffic, I looked over at other drivers talking on their phones; moving their vehicles forward as they tapped on their phones, as if somehow or another these people forgot their cars are made of materials that will break and cause similar breakage when colliding into other cars.

I would love if we could somehow ban the use of cellphones while driving. I would love the fine for using a cellphone while driving to be $2000. Make that use of a cellphone while driving hurt in every way imaginable. I don’t know if a cellphone played a part in the traffic accident on the bridge but I would hope such a hefty penalty would curb a lot of people not paying attention to traffic.

And if I could extend that fine to people using the bus lanes as their own personal HOV lane, or blocking intersections in the city, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

Robert August 26, 2015 (7:55 pm)

That was no fun. A bit of bad karma to those on southbound I5 that “accidentally” had to merge into the exit lane to WSB instead of waiting in line like all of us who passed Kindergarten.

hj August 26, 2015 (8:56 pm)

@Robert, that brings back bad memories: if you remember back before the Spokane St Viaduct was widened and backups onto I-5 were much more common than they are now, then you’ll remember people doing that all the time. The only bit of good faith I can muster is that if you’re coming from the mainline of I-5 rather than getting on from I-90 or the I-5 collector/distributor, it can sometimes be a struggle to safely get over into the exit lane on time if a line has already formed up.

Happy Wed August 26, 2015 (9:03 pm)

Robert, you should have seen what it was like every day when the bridge was down to 1 lane westbound / eastbound and the old 1st and 4th Ave exits were demolished. Or maybe you did sit in that. Months of no fun, worse than today.

LyndaB August 26, 2015 (10:42 pm)

Mr Elliott, I have observed same while merging onto south bound I-5. Traffic was creeping along. I saw a girl with both hands on her phone not on the steering wheel. I couldn’t help it but after I merged behind her I honked my horn. What could be so important on the phone?

Yes, I did carefully consider what my actions could do. :)

Robin August 27, 2015 (9:42 am)

We all walked away with just scrapes and bruises. Two of the seven cars had to be towed away, the rest could drive away. To the best of my knowledge, no cell phones were involved. Source: I’m the driver of the car at the front of the collision chain.

WSB August 27, 2015 (9:46 am)

Thank you for the update. Aside from whatever we get via scanner or quick tweets from SDOT, postmortem info on non-major-injury crashes is all but impossible to get unless we hear from someone involved. – TR

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