(Four WS-relevant views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
6:37 AM: Eight days later than originally scheduled, Seattle Public Schools start classes today. West Seattle is home to 16 of them; the times when you’ll see the flashing school-zone beacons are listed here (for all schools in the district). Four school zones now have speed-enforcement cameras – Louisa Boren K-8 STEM/interim Arbor Heights Elementary on Delridge; Roxhill Elementary and Holy Family School, which has been in session for two weeks, on Roxbury; and Gatewood Elementary, on Fauntleroy Way.
ROAD-WORK REMINDERS: With rain last night and more on the way later this morning, you might not encounter crews this morning, but remember for starters that the Roxbury and 35th SW projects are now under way, so if you’re driving Roxbury between 17th and 35th and/or 35th between Holly and Roxbury for the first time in a while because of school (or some other reason), be aware that the lane configurations have changed – primarily one lane each way with a center turn lane.
7:18 AM: If you use northbound I-5 through downtown, there might be some backup through the commute because of a lane closure at Mercer related to repairs from an early-morning crash.
7:20 AM: Crash reported at California/Charlestown and SFD is en route to check out a 17-year-old boy for possible injuries.
(Added above – photo from Bryce – thank you. The crash is in the outside northbound lane just north of Charlestown.)
7:29 AM: **Transit notes** – commenters say the first Route 57 and a Route 21 bus have been no-shows this morning. We haven’t seen any text or tweet alerts from Metro.
8:10 AM: The aforementioned left-lane closure on NB I-5 at Mercer downtown continues, with a miles-long backup reported.
9:11 AM: Texter says a broken-down vehicle is in the left lane near the crest of the high bridge, no emergency vehicles on scene, leading to trouble not just because of the blocked lane but because of vehicles diverting at the last minute.
10:35 AM: Have been in the thick of this for the past hour and a third; headed out after the last update with an hour to make it to the UW for a presentation at a student-journalism conference. Instead, by 10:20, we were still on the bridge; called to say we’d never make it, and now we’re in a parking spot downtown updating before heading back to the bridge and home base. The stall turned out to be a collision; it was cleared by about 9:50 – we only saw the police lights in the distance – but the gridlock had started at Alaska/Fauntleroy and continued eastward. I-5 in the distance was sluggish too. If you have been waiting to leave, things might be a bit better now – once we got onto 99, it was slow until the Viaduct rise, and then finally everybody was up to 30 mph.
10:41 AM: WSDOT has tweeted that the NB I-5 lane is finally open again:
The left lane of NB I-5 at Mercer Street has reopened after an earlier collision.
— WSDOT Traffic (@wsdot_traffic) September 17, 2015
11:14 AM: Just came across the bridge westbound. Eastbound is STILL jammed, from Nucor eastward. And northbound 99 doesn’t look much better than it did when we were on it last hour.
6:24 PM: Crash at Olson/Myers – don’t know about the traffic effects, but be careful in that area.
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