9:35 AM: Continuing the coverage we began just after 8 am in our morning traffic watch:
Two workers were rushed to Harborview Medical Center after a truck driver hit the lift they were in, working by the west end of the West Seattle Bridge.
One worker, described as a 40-year-old man, has life-threatening injuries, and that’s why the Seattle Police Traffic Collision Investigation Squad was called out.
This happened alongside the bridge, on the exit from surface Spokane Street headed up to Admiral Way, and that area is blocked off right now. This is where the Fauntleroy Expressway seismic-cushion work has been under way but we haven’t yet verified with SDOT that the crew was associated with that project. We will update this report with any further information about the investigation, the victims, and the road closure, which we’re hearing may expand to block off more of the Spokane/Manning/Admiral intersection.
10:08 AM: The turn from Avalon to cut under the bridge toward Admiral is also blocked off.
11:14 AM: We are just back from the briefing at Harborview, but as commenters point out, SPD Blotter was updated in the meantime. They confirmed to us at Harborview (where SFD had a fireworks-safety briefing pre-scheduled, and we then found out SPD and SDOT would be answering questions about this incident, so we headed there) that the crew was working on the Fauntleroy Expressway project, and that the truck we had photographed on Admiral Way (above) was the one involved. SDOT spokesperson Rick Sheridan told us at the briefing that it’s too soon to say if this will delay the completion of the bridge work, which has been under way since May. More to come, including video of the briefing.
12:10 PM: Harborview spokesperson Susan Gregg confirms what a commenter had reported earlier – that the man who fell the furthest has died.
1:18 PM: We’re just back from checking on what’s still closed off. TCIS was clearing the Avalon/Harbor intersection while we were there, but the scene itself, westbound lower Spokane to Admiral, was still closed. We’ll check back at midafternoon.
2:52 PM: Per both scanner and Twitter, the scene has fully cleared.
UPDATE: Incident on SW Spokane St at SW Admiral Way has cleared. All lanes open.
— seattledot (@seattledot) July 1, 2016
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