TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Monday updates & alerts; 14th Ave. S. in South Park reopens after fire response

| South Park | West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

(Four WS-relevant views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Good morning! No West Seattle incidents right now, but if you use 14th Avenue S. in the South Park area, note that a house-fire response TheSouthParkNews.com coverage here is blocking at least part of the road, just south of the SP Bridge, between Cloverdale and Director.

ROAD WORK ALERTS FOR TODAY: As announced last week, the Seattle Public Utilities project near Westwood has repaving work scheduled starting today, to “pave 22nd Avenue SW between SW Barton Place and SW Barton Street on August 17-18, from 7:30 am until as late as 6 pm. This work will require intermittent lane restrictions on SW Barton Place where it intersects 22nd Avenue SW, and on SW Barton Street between 21st Avenue SW and 23rd Avenue SW.” SPU’s paving work on Orchard east of Delridge also is scheduled to continue today, with “closure of the westbound lane on SW Orchard Street (east of Delridge Way SW) between 7:30 am and 4 pm.”

6:45 AM: The closure zone in South Park has extended south to Concord to give vehicles more room to turn around, per scanner traffic.

LOOKING AHEAD – TWO CLOSURES TO REMEMBER: Highway 99 will be closed both ways from the Battery Street Tunnel north to Valley St. in lower Queen Anne next weekend, Friday night (August 21) to early Monday (August 24) – details and maps here. Also, Alki/Harbor Avenues will be closed for a few hours next Sunday morning (August 23) for the Alki Beach 5K.

7:27 AM: 14th Avenue S. has reopened in South Park. SFD is still at the fire scene but has moved off the arterial.

8:32 AM: Quiet commute so far, otherwise. We continue to monitor via a variety of sources – your tips are much appreciated (if on the road, of course, wait until you get where you’re going, unless you’re a passenger) – that’s how we first heard about this morning’s South Park fire, for example: 206-293-6302 is our 24/7 hotline, text or voice, for whatever’s happening *now*. Thank you!

HelperMonkey August 17, 2015 (8:26 am)

shame about that South Park house. I’ve long dreamed of buying and renovating that place. Such a great location.

WSB August 17, 2015 (8:30 am)

The photo tweeted by Seattle Fire (included in our coverage on http://thesouthparknews.com ) did look rather stately, from a distance. Among what we’ve heard on the scanner, though: “Hoarder conditions inside.”

HelperMonkey August 17, 2015 (8:36 am)

from what I could tell from property records the elderly owner had passed away and it’s been sitting vacant and boarded up ever since. I always assumed there were squatters living there. I would imagine “hoarder conditions” are making fighting this fire exponentially more difficult. :(

Alan August 17, 2015 (9:39 am)

I had seen that house while sitting in Loretta’s. My wife and I walked up and around it. Like HelperMonkey, part of me wanted to save it. It was built in 1900, but has had some bad remodel work done to it. Up on the hill, it would have some expanded industrial views of the Duwamish.

Based on Google Street views, it was boarded up sometime after June 2011. The owner also owns the lot to the west of it. I expect it will end up being developed into multiple skinny houses, similar to what is across the street from it.

Alan August 17, 2015 (10:22 am)

OK, here is a little twist to the house story. This is largely conjecture, so I will understand if you don’t allow this comment or strip out some of it.

The house is owned by Helen R Dexter. After seeing HelperMonkey’s comment that she had died, I searched to see if there was and obituary for her. What I found instead was a Helen Dexter, mother of one of the Green River victims (Constance Naon). There are King County Recorder records for Helen R Naon Dexter involving property acquired while she was Helen R Naon.

According to DEX, she lives in Burien.

Sorry, comment time is over.