VIADUCT CLOSURE, DAY 4: Afternoon/ evening commute coverage for Monday

(SDOT MAP with camera/incident links; OFFICIAL #99CLOSURE INFOSITE; ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)

(Click any view for a close-up; more cameras on the WSB Traffic page)

4 PM: We’re launching afternoon/evening commute coverage, headed for West Seattle and vicinity, since it’s only the second weekday of the tunneling-related precautionary closure of the Alaskan Way Viaduct and patterns are far from settled. We’re watching and listening for incidents and anything else of note. Special request: If you’re taking the Water Taxi home, let us know how things are looking, as we aren’t able to get to the downtown dock today – editor@westseattleblog.com, text or voice 206-293-6302, or Twitter @westseattleblog – thanks!

4:27 PM: First report from the Water Taxi dock downtown – big line – “get there early,” advises the texter. Photo (thanks!):

IMG_9093

Also, KCDOT is making new A-boards to help point people to the added parking areas on the West Seattle waterfront in the morning (see our pictorial how-to if you’re confused or haven’t done it before). And we have an update from WSDOT – they’ll be adding another daily progress report: “We will update the Bertha tracker around 4:00 a.m. (this is newly added), 11 a.m. and 8 p.m.”

Incident: Crash at 4th and Royal Brougham (stadium zone).

4:45 PM: SFD has closed out of that incident. Now there’s an SFD response on 1st at Walker (added, “light smoke from a transformer”). Note that we have 1st/4th cameras up at the top.

5:12 PM: Scanner: “4th Avenue SB is now clear.”

5:30 PM: Two updates – multiple reports that 5:15 pm Water Taxi from downtown was a full house, some have to wait for next run. But meantime, if you’re thinking of Water Taxi’ing tomorrow, the Pier 2 parking lot is still underutilized – 32 vehicles today, room for 200. Across from 7-11. Look for new signage.

signs

Second update – crash at 1st/Columbia in the heart of downtown, blocking southbound. So if you’re coming from there or north of there, find an alternate route until you’re further south.

5:40 PM: Not on the 911 log, so apparently no injuries, but SDOT’s Traffic Ops Center reports a crash at 4th/Lucile in SODO.

5:52 PM: Comments and tweets suggest a challenging bus commute again this afternoon. (Added) Also via Twitter – capacity sailing for 5:45 pm Water Taxi.

6:14 PM: If you’re headed south on 99 before the closure zone – warning, there’s a “car fire” call described as Aurora to Denny, sounds like a bus.

8:48 PM: Commute reports are continuing in comments. Meantime, WSDOT’s evening progress report is up – 91 feet so far for the tunneling machine. We have updated the report originally published here around noon.

43 Replies to "VIADUCT CLOSURE, DAY 4: Afternoon/ evening commute coverage for Monday"

  • newnative May 2, 2016 (4:30 pm)

    Aww, I was hoping for reader comments by now before I leave the office.  I see on one of the cameras (not labeled) there is an ambulance and some cars in the intersection.  Doesn’t look good.

    • WSB May 2, 2016 (4:33 pm)

      Crash at 4th and Royal Brougham.

  • Rachel May 2, 2016 (4:42 pm)

    How are the buses doing on 4th toward West Seattle? Need to decide if I should take the water taxi… Thanks! 

  • Peel and Press May 2, 2016 (4:42 pm)

    Happy Hour at Peel and Press in the Morgan Junction is going until 7pm for all you commuters!  It’s not your fault you can’t make it back in time for Happy Hour!!!

  • Alki Resident May 2, 2016 (5:06 pm)

    Seriously Dan, you are amazing.

  • Hoosier May 2, 2016 (5:06 pm)

    Waiting for 5:15 water taxi. Line is off the pier. 

  • MJ May 2, 2016 (5:09 pm)

    Somebody should figure out how to sell beer,etc to those folks waiting for the water taxi.

  • Jason May 2, 2016 (5:10 pm)

    Water taxi line now extending onto and across Alaskan way

  • Elton May 2, 2016 (5:10 pm)

    Line for the 5:15 táxi at Alaskan way already. Could be a close to capacity ride 

  • newnative May 2, 2016 (5:15 pm)

    I got on the #56 at Bell at 5ish and we are at 5th ave S and dearborn.

  • Elton May 2, 2016 (5:19 pm)

    The 5:15 táxi is leaving now and is sold out. They are turning people away (about a dozen people) 

  • Rachel May 2, 2016 (5:33 pm)

    Well, I opted for the bus – super slowwwww. I didn’t realize that the buses didn’t use 4th going southbound… It’s a very convoluted route and we had to wait for 3 trains. Took us 30 minutes to reach Lander and 1st from downtown. 

  • Mel May 2, 2016 (5:34 pm)

    Line for 5:45 Water Taxi is very long as well, nearly to Alaskan Way at 5:30

  • newnative May 2, 2016 (5:37 pm)

    just got on the Bridge.  not too bad.  

  • Annie May 2, 2016 (5:40 pm)

    C line from SLU is basically MIA. 

  • Bri May 2, 2016 (5:40 pm)

    Hopped the C-line at 3rd & Cherry at 5:10. Made it to the West Seattle Bridge at 5:38. I’m usually landing at Morgan Junction about this time. Not as terrible as I expected, but tomorrow might be different. Happy & safe travels to all!

  • Mel May 2, 2016 (5:53 pm)

    5:45 Water Taxi leaving full. About 20 people left behind.

  • Janna May 2, 2016 (5:54 pm)

    5:45 left a dozen or so as well. Running about 10 minutes late. 

  • newnative May 2, 2016 (6:01 pm)

    about 50 minutes from Belltown To Admiral District, we stopped for extra people in SoDo that were asking about the C bus.  two light rails, and one intersection that was police-controlled.  it seemed to take forever to get to airport way, then down lander.  

  • Paul Nicholson May 2, 2016 (6:05 pm)

    6.15 boat does not look too bad right now

  • Stefen May 2, 2016 (6:09 pm)

    Is this an ok spot to submit my own blog entry on a summary of this Bertha thing?

     We’re all pretty much screwed for the duration of this current closure.  Yep.  What’s it going to be like when the tunnel is finished but the viaduct still needs to come down?  Worse.

     [insert pictures of suckiness here] 

  • Paul Nicholson May 2, 2016 (6:11 pm)

    Now 6.10 and line is back to pier entrance, no boat in sight though

  • Alex Kanias May 2, 2016 (6:42 pm)

    FYI -the WS free shuttles are picking up at Seacrest on the main road, not in the U-Turn. Don’t queue in the wrong place and miss it.

  • Alki May 2, 2016 (6:45 pm)

    Thanks for the transit updates! Bus riders, please post the time you’re posting too (not seeing time as part of date stamp??)

  • Anon May 2, 2016 (6:51 pm)

    I’m curious why people aren’t utilizing the parking lot. Is it the lack of access during the day?

    • dandelion May 2, 2016 (8:41 pm)

      Hi Anon – that is indeed why I’m not making use of that lot.  I was super excited about it until I saw that you can’t access your car prior to 4 pm – I’ve shifted my work hours to work earlier during the closure and would get back to WS about an hour earlier than I would be able to access my car.

  • Junctionite May 2, 2016 (6:56 pm)

    When are the extra water taxi runs? Webpage says the water taxi leaves at 3:30, 4:30 & 5:30 are there extra sailings during this evening commute time?

    • WSB May 2, 2016 (7:28 pm)

      There are no extra runs for West Seattle, so far. The original plan added a few runs for Vashon; the WS boat is more than double the capacity of what was in service during Viadoom 2011 so they figured that was likely addition enough. Obviously if it keeps building, they may be reevaluating, as all the agencies involved in this have been tweaking. We’re planning to ask about that tomorrow, if it’s anything like today. – TR

  • Seaview Resident May 2, 2016 (7:02 pm)

    Took the C Line from SLU at 3.50 p.m. today and got back to the California and Findlay stop at 4.50 p.m. This commute usually takes me 40 minutes so not bad all things considered. This hour commute also included about 10 minutes while we were stopped waiting for a train. 

  • Annie May 2, 2016 (7:33 pm)

    Seems like folks who left early did fine but by 5 ish things were a mess. Took me 1.5 hours to take the c line (bus driver actually made everyone get off on 3rd an Virginia cause it was her break time), walk to water taxi and got the 6:15 which left at 6:25, almost full. I think off-hours is key. 

  • squareeyes May 2, 2016 (7:41 pm)

    Left the office at 4:55pm. Missed the C by one minute; it was pulling away as I rounded the corner. That was the last one to show up. Got home at 6:50pm. Did I mention this was my first bus day after 11 years of driving to work? Ridiculous!

  • bus rider May 2, 2016 (7:53 pm)

    Metro needs to extend peak bus service. I could work later and wait it out, but after 6 pm Metro bus service is reduced greatly. Downtown traffic is less congested after 6:00 but my bus options are limited. 

  • Deb May 2, 2016 (7:54 pm)

    My husband was on the super packed water taxi and reported that he missed the 37 bus “by 30 seconds” as it took off before the boat had finished unloading. You’d think that the bus driver would have had figured that water taxi riders would have been bus passengers too. Next pm commute, he plans to take the Link from UW to the Tukwila station and the 128 back to West Seattle. Less connection drama he hopes. 

  • wsn00b May 2, 2016 (8:20 pm)

    My datapoint: Starting at 557PM: 1 min wait for C line in SLU. 40 minutes from SLU to Alaska and 35th, 2 minute wait for 21, 10 minutes to Gatewood on the 21. 52 minutes from SLU to Gatewood. Not shabby at all. Lets see if this decent commute persists.

  • dandelion May 2, 2016 (8:45 pm)

    My commute wasn’t bad today either (knock on wood).  This morning, I got on a mostly empty RapidRide C at 5:50 am near Morgan Junction and was walking into my office at 6:20 am (including a 4 block walk from 3rd and Seneca stop to my office.  This evening I got on the C at 3:15 pm.  It took about half an hour to get to the West Seattle bridge, but it was free sailing after that.  Luckily, we didn’t get stopped by a train.  Thinking it might be worse next week with all the home Mariners games though.

  • Eileen May 2, 2016 (9:37 pm)

    Bummer the water taxi did not run later. I had to work a little late for a deadline and missed the 6:30p water taxi from downtown. My car was at seacrest so I had to uber it. If they are pushing the “stay downtown” to miss traffic they have to give us a way to get home.  How do we tweet to King county water taxi group? I could only find links to kcmetro. Thanks for all your reporting and support WSB and people posting about their experiences

  • Kevin May 2, 2016 (9:39 pm)

    I used the Pier 2 parking today and it worked out quite well. Got to the parking area at 7:43, planning to take the 8:15 boat, but since the 7:45 boat hadn’t left yet I was able to walk right on. It was well attended but not full. The crew opened up two exit ramps, instead of the normal one, to speed off loading. With walk to the office, I was in by 8:20. Not bad.

    On the way home, left the office at 4:50 to catch the 5:15 boat. Was in line a ways back but made it on with room to spare. The crew said it was the first sailing that they have totally sold out. Took the shuttle with 4 people on it to Pier 2 and was in the Alaska junction by 5:50.

    They are really asking/encouraging people to use Pier 2. It worked well for me. 

  • MsD May 2, 2016 (10:19 pm)

    Are non-rush hour commutes out of West Seattle being affected much by the Viaduct shutdown?  I have to go to First Hill mid-day Wednesday and was wondering how much extra time I needed to give myself.

  • Laura May 2, 2016 (10:54 pm)

    I’ve been getting around during the non-rush hour times without too much trouble. You should be ok around mid-day, but you may want to give yourself a little. It of extra time as I’m guessing that everyday will be a little different.

  • JayD May 2, 2016 (10:56 pm)

    Late to the party, but I took 545 from Redmond to D/T and it was just shy of an hour. Then I took C Line from 2nd/Spring to the first WS exit and it was another hour. New route hits EVERY train crossing (full stop every time) and our driver was not proactive on yellow lights. We sat through two lights nearly every intersection..

    Do you have running shoes? A brisk walk will get you back to WS from DT faster than Rapid. Ridiculous route.        

  • WSCommuter May 2, 2016 (11:02 pm)

    WSB – Still trying to get a response from SDOT on this. Can you ask them at the briefing?

    “Is there any possibility of adding to the Spokane Street low bridge tweets either the class/size of the vessel and/or estimated time that the Spokane Street low bridge will be closed to traffic?

    I’m asking b/c my commute is normally 20 – 30 minutes and a normal bridge opening adds 10+ minutes. But if the vessel is large/slow and the bridge opening takes 30+ minutes, then my commute time is doubled.”

    • WSB May 2, 2016 (11:21 pm)

      WSC, so many variables figure into a bridge opening (might be multiple vessels) that I can’t even imagine that happening. Tomorrow’s conference call is supposed to focus on technical tunneling points with an STP rep but we’ll see who shows up Wednesday.

  • Sage K. May 3, 2016 (12:24 am)

    I agree that the reroute for Viaduct buses along Airport and then down Lander to 1st is a joke. Going over 3 train crossings is just poor planning. I left downtown today at 10:47am and it took me an hour to get home to Delridge because of the train crossings. The Metro supervisor rerouted the reroute and had us back track from Lander to Edgar Martinez because of a long train and that was after waiting through 2 turns of a light and a Sounder.

    Going to work down 4th was a breeze. I don’t understand why we can’t go back that way or at least a way with fewer train crossings.

Sorry, comment time is over.