TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Tuesday watch – plus post-commute crashes

(SDOT MAP with travel times/video links; is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE)

7:06 AM: Good morning. Northbound I-5 is today’s trouble spot so far – a crash near the Convention Center has led to a long backup.

7:17 AM: The I-5 scene has cleared but the backup will persist.

7:48 AM: Next commute challenge – serious rain. This is the first – but not worst – wave of storminess headed this way through Thursday.

8:02 AM: Commenters say it’s a slog out there so if you haven’t left yet – be ready for slow going.

8:29 AM: The backup is affecting pretty much all routes to the bridge, per commenters and all the sources we watch. The National Weather Service, meanwhile, says it’ll be rainy for at least the next three or four hours.

8:35 AM: Metro has just acknowledged the sluggishness by sending this via text and Twitter:

Transit Alert – Expect service delays on rts 21, 22, 37, 50, 55, 56, 57, 116, 118, 119, 120, 125 & C Line operating EB on the W Sea Bridge.

— King County Metro 🚌 (@kcmetrobus) October 17, 2017

9:41 AM: Trouble on the Fauntleroy end of the westbound bridge.

10:01 AM: Crash at 35th/Morgan – avoid that intersection for a while. (added) Metro has sent an alert that the crash might affect Routes 21 and 128.

Katy October 17, 2017 (7:54 am)

Admiral to the west Seattle bridge is very backed up. 30+ minutes, and we aren’t down the hill yet

Andee October 17, 2017 (7:57 am)

Traffic is ugly. Backup on top of Admiral Hill, same w/traffic on Avalon. Extremely slow going. Appreciate how west Seattle folks are working together to let each other in!

Jessica S October 17, 2017 (7:59 am)

Can anyone tell me why Delridge ALWAYS backs up on Tuesdays? I believe I wrote a comment last Tuesday too. Mondays are fine, Wednesdays are ok, but never Tuesday. Guaranteed to sit on the bus 50 min to get downtown.

Robert October 17, 2017 (8:19 am)

There’s no explanation for the unbelievably inconsistent traffic out of West Seattle. It just “is”.

Unless a raindrop falls.

Kim October 17, 2017 (8:13 am)

Figure on an hour to get over the bridge.

H October 17, 2017 (8:21 am)

30+ minutes sitting on Avalon before getting on the bridge. Ugh

WSB October 17, 2017 (8:29 am)

Just got a tweet that bus-lane cheaters are clogging Avalon again:
https://twitter.com/Chris_Bast/status/920309415873413120

newnative October 17, 2017 (8:22 am)

I feel very lucky to have missed the traffic. The 6:55 #57 was packed but we made it to downtown before the rain.

Julia October 17, 2017 (8:30 am)

Olsen leading to Myers Way is backed up too, to the top of the hill.

WSB October 17, 2017 (8:33 am)

Thanks for all the updates.

quinkygirl October 17, 2017 (8:47 am)

Avoid Delridge at all costs.

LL October 17, 2017 (8:48 am)

What about the many number of people that are so obviously ‘entitled’ to make a left hand turn onto Avalon, coming down from Admiral? 3-4 cars lined up turning left and cutting traffic most mornings…….oh the many tickets that could be written each morning at this spot!

AlexR October 17, 2017 (8:53 am)

You guys need to stop driving to work and crossing the bridge, take the bus. Hopefully they put a toll for crossing the bridge during rush hour, same cost per bus sounds good.

ImmaMom October 17, 2017 (9:08 am)

Amen!
Canton October 17, 2017 (9:49 am)

Sounds like, from tweet above, 13 bus routes were having trouble too.
P October 17, 2017 (10:13 am)

Not everyone likes taking public transit or they find having a personal vehicle to be much more convenient for them and their lifestyle. What kind of perspective is it to start tolling the bridge that’s ridiculous. Traffic sucks because all it takes is a few drivers to drive terribly to cause accidents or major slow downs. It was said on the news not to long ago that Seattle has some of the worst freeways and their design causes more traffic than needed.

all though buses in Seattle do get their own lanes it doesn’t always turn out to be a fast solution. Faster than a car sure but getting to work on the C took an hour.
- Yeah October 17, 2017 (1:56 pm)
  
  Here, Here! I have to use my car for my job which takes me not only all over the City, but as far North as Mt Baker area to South of Tacoma. Public Transit does not work for everyone nor can anyone force people to use it.

Else October 17, 2017 (9:24 am)

On a dark morning like this and I was running late, it made my day that the Rapid C driver gave an F… and overtook all the texting drivers, and even a few other Metro buses, sitting in the “bus/right turn” lane on Avalon to get onto the bridge. Go bus driver!!

blbl October 17, 2017 (9:56 am)

Aren’t you allowed to turn right in the bus lane to get on the bridge at Avalon? How is that bus lane cheating? Isn’t there a sign that says, “Right turn ok?” And people wouldn’t cheat and cut in by turning left from Manning if people didn’t let them in. Instead of demanding for a cop to sit down there for hours, just don’t let them in.

Else October 17, 2017 (11:20 am)

Im unsure, but I think that the bus lane becomes moot when buses don’t get the right of way in that lane, and that was obviously also the thinking of the driver on my bus this morning.
KBear October 17, 2017 (12:00 pm)

No, it does not say “right turn ok”. It says “bus only”. You are only allowed to enter the right lane at the very end, where there’s a break in the stripe. I’ll agree it’s a bad setup, but all the right tuners driving down the bus lane are in violation.
- Chemist October 17, 2017 (6:41 pm)
  
  There’s 200 ft of general purpose right turn lane on NB SW Avalon to ?Spokane St? under the bridge there.
  
  https://www.google.com/maps/place/West+Seattle,+Seattle,+WA/@47.5708477,-122.3707663,64m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x54904104d638618b:0x4a6b33b54023f871!8m2!3d47.5666668!4d-122.3867537

TJ October 17, 2017 (11:09 am)

Toll the bridge? The only way you could toll the bridge is by building a new one or somehow retrofitting to add extra lanes. You toll only to pay for new roads or bridges (520 & Narows Bridge). Tolling the existing bridge that is paid off, and charging the same rate as bus fare, would take social engineering to a new level.

Sorry, comment time is over.