(Photos by Nick Adams for WSB)
After four years of construction, finally a celebration for the completion of the Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project. It was May 2008 when word came that the project would proceed, and we took a closeup look at “how it’ll change your life.” It’s added a 4th Avenue offramp on the eastbound side, consolidated on/offramps on the westbound side, and more travel lanes, among other things, all commemorated with this morning’s gathering beneath the SSV (known not that long ago as The West Seattle Freeway). There were of course speeches, including one from West Seattle restaurateur and Chamber of Commerce board chair Dave Montoure:

During the final phase of the project, he was part of an informal task force set up to avoid community-communication snafus like one that left many surprised by a weekend closure. But that’s all in the past – this morning was a time to celebrate, maybe even sigh in relief. Or at least, take pictures, as Mayor Mike McGinn was seen doing:

A closer look at that cake and the ribboncutting – plus what’s next, ahead:

Along with cake-cutting – note the icing inscription, “We’re Done!” – the event featured ribbon-cutting – requiring one big set of scissors:

Scissors in hand, it was on to the ribbon:

Dignitaries included West Seattle-residing City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen, who chairs the council’s Transportation Committee and spoke about this route’s importance to this side of the bay:

SDOT director Peter Hahn, who took the job after this project was under way, chatted with project manager Stuart Goldsmith, who spent a lot of time briefing community groups in West Seattle over the years:

The event also was meant to offer a “thank you” to West Seattleites for their patience. If you don’t remember all the backstory, this SDOT story recaps some of it.

There may still be some work here and there – for those who have wondered, take note of this footnote on the project’s official city webpage:

(Before the project is officially finished, the City of Seattle will evaluate the performance of the contractor to ensure that the work has been delivered as specified in the contract. As is customary on such major projects, it is likely the contractor will be directed to make adjustments to some of the work they have performed.)

WSB coverage from the past four and a half years is all archived here, in reverse chronological order.

If you have driven the newly reopened lower Spokane Street, westbound under the newly widened Spokane Street Viaduct, you have seen the designs painted on the columns – city-commissioned art that’s part of the project. The city has just announced plans for a formal dedication:

After three years of construction, the Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project is nearly complete. At a public dedication scheduled for 9 a.m, Friday, Nov. 16, a unique set of artworks will be unveiled, along with new sidewalks and landscaping in the lower roadway reconstruction. Santa Monica, Calif. artist team merge conceptual design’s (Claudia Reisenberger and Franka Diehnelt) artwork, SODO, is a vast visual narrative that catalogues more than 200 years of SoDo’s history. Created in partnership with the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), the artwork consists of stenciled and barcode designs painted on the concrete columns that hold up the existing and new portions of the Spokane Street Viaduct between Sixth Avenue South and East Marginal Way South. Nine different color and image schemes create separate zones that recollect the natural and cultural history of the area, the industries that flourished there, and wildlife that inhabited the site. In total, more than 500 column faces were painted.

As a way to distinguish and identify each theme within the artwork, the artists created their own unique barcodes encrypted with the name of each field (e.g., Another Man’s Treasure) for the project. The striped barcodes on the columns (viewed from westbound South Spokane Street) visually play with the corridor’s perspective beneath the viaduct and line up to create a whole barcode pattern when viewed from specific points along the roadway. The nine themes in SODO include (east to west): Another Man’s Treasure, Forest of Stilts, Duck-Duck-Goose, Heavy Metal, Moved Mountain, Slowheel, Cuts and Hides and Liquid Land.

(The city quotes the artists as saying:) “In the last 200 years SoDo has experienced a dramatic transformation from tidal flats to industrial area to a center of warehousing, packaging and distribution of goods.

“In our artwork we are using the over-arching image of barcodes to “label” the many layers that constitute SoDo’s history. The use of barcodes points to SoDo’s present reality, while the information encoded in the barcodes refers to a much deeper identity hidden beneath the surface: rather than just naming a product, the encoded words evoke stories/history related to the site.

Graphically, the barcodes serve as the medium to weave together the several layers of the site’s identity into one narrative. In addition to the barcodes, each of the stories is represented in an image/product, condensed into a simple icon. These icons are used to create patterns that visually interact with the barcodes. A simple text layer is added to loosely hint at the stories behind the patterns.”

We’re checking with the city to see exactly where along the lower roadway the ceremony will be held, and will add that information here and in our calendar listing when we get it.

ADDED 8:41 AM: The answer – “under the Spokane St Viaduct just east of 1st Ave. S.”

9:50 PM UPDATE: Just checked while coming home from an errand downtown – and the entirety of lower westbound Spokane Street is now OPEN. Photo to come. (For a trip down Memory Lane, here’s our first in-depth story before the Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project started construction 4+ years ago. There’s also a project timeline at the bottom of the SSVWP city home page.)

10:50 PM NOTE: If you’re wondering about the designs on the columns – it’s art commissioned for the project.

WESTBOUND SURFACE SPOKANE STREET PARTLY OPEN: SDOT says that for the first time in three years, westbound S. Spokane St., under the widened SSV, is now open between 4th and 6th Avenues. Project spokesperson Paul Elliott says in an update e-mail, “It is hoped that the remainder of westbound surface S Spokane, the segment from 4th Avenue S to East Marginal Way S, will be reopened to motorists before the end of October.”

SPEED-LIMIT UPDATE: We also have an update from Elliott about the city’s timetable for revisiting the speed limit on the SSV itself, now that work on the bridge deck is done. It came up in the WSB Forums this week; we had checked with SDOT a month ago, at which time Elliott told us the city Traffic Engineer would be taking a look “after giving motorists some time to adjust to the new configuration.” Checking back this week to find out about that timetable, we got this reply:

As to … when the City Traffic Engineer will be evaluating the speed limit on the structure, he expects this to happen in the spring. We need normalized operating speeds along with some collision data (of which we currently have little). The spring timeframe will give us about six months of baseline collision data, with which to better assess the safety impacts of any change in the speed limit.

The project itself has now been under way for about four years (here’s one of our earliest stories, from spring 2008).

Monday, Oct. 15 – the morning of Friday, Oct. 19 – First Avenue South will be closed between South King Street and Railroad Way South [map] from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. nightly. Note: on Wednesday, Oct. 17 the closure start time will be delayed until two hours after the Sounders game at CenturyLink Field.

Yet another reminder if you see this before Monday night – ALL transportation/traffic/transit topics are on the table for the Sustainable West Seattle Community Forum that night (October 15th), 7 pm, Senior Center of West Seattle (California/Oregon; WSB sponsor).

SPOKANE STREET VIADUCT: Nothing in the coming week, says SDOT.

ALASKAN WAY VIADUCT/99: Tonight through Thursday night, it’s closed southbound, 9 pm-5 am, between the Battery Street Tunnel and West Seattle Bridge, says WSDOT.

P.S. If you drive through SODO, remember that there’s a Seahawks game Monday night and a Huskies game Thursday night, both likely to affect traffic. As noted here on Friday, the West Seattle Water Taxi has late-night runs for both games.

Second, SDOT answers a question we received via e-mail from Stacy, who wondered, “Do you know if there are plans to raise the speed limit on the Spokane Street Viaduct (i.e., back to 45 mph) now that the construction is complete with the new permanent barrier between eastbound and westbound traffic? That is the speed on the bridge, and it would be great if it were consistent all the way to I-5, too.” SDOT’s Elliott replies:

Now that the work on the bridge deck on the viaduct is largely complete, we are returning to the preconstruction 35 MPH. After giving motorists some time to adjust to the new configuration, the City’s Traffic Engineer will examine the conditions and then determine whether or not this is the proper speed limit.

The SSV Widening Project is still not completely done – the westbound surface S. Spokane Street is one of the last pieces of the puzzle – but is scheduled to wrap up next month.

Just back from SODO, where we verified that the new ramp to/from the westbound Spokane Street Viaduct is indeed open. For the first time in more than two years, you can get onto the westbound West Seattle Bridge without taking I-5 or Highway 99. The dash-cam view right at 6 am:

The old westbound onramp at 1st/Spokane closed in May 2010 and was demolished shortly thereafter as part of the Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project; the old westbound onramp at 4th/Spokane was closed in 1993, but not torn down till this project (we photographed the then-15-year-old sign for our first in-depth look at the then-upcoming SSVWP in May 2008).

Note that this opening does NOT mark the end of the project – westbound surface Spokane Street won’t open for another month or so, SDOT says, and that’s also when they expect to reopen the eastbound 1st Avenue S. offramp, which is being repaired/resurfaced.

ADDED 3:14 PM: Thanks to KING 5 for sharing this SkyKING image of the new ramp:

The image looks toward the northeast – that’s the offramp on top, the onramp “below” it.

By this time Friday morning, as SDOT announced last week, the westbound Spokane Street Viaduct‘s new 1st Avenue South on-/offramp will be open. Since it is a two-way ramp, you’ll drive southbound to get onto it, rather than westbound. And that led commenter “TK” to ask:

What is the recommended route for westbound traffic coming from the Georgetown/4th Ave S (Costco)/Spokane St. area going back to West Seattle via the 1st Ave onramp?

Once Spokane St is reopened, how do we access the onramp? Turn north on 1st Ave & pull a U-turn? (will SDOT put up signs allowing this like some places in Bellevue?) Or continue on 4th north to the old potholed non-arterial Holgate just to get south again?

There doesn’t seem to be any reasonable solution that comes to mind, and there is a lot of traffic which will have to deal with this daily.

As promised in the comment exchange, we took the question to SDOT. Ahead, the answer from project spokesperson Paul Elliott:

For the motorist heading to West Seattle from Georgetown or Costco, the easiest routing would be to head north on Fourth, turn left onto Lander (which has the greatest capacity), and then left again onto southbound First and up onto the ramp. (Some motorists may wish to take the left turn at Horton, which is closer.)

The routing is a bit more problematic for motorists heading north on First, but who wish to turn around to access the on-ramp. U-turns are legal on First except at intersections where they are expressly prohibited. At S Horton all left turns – which includes U-turns – from both the ramp that touches down there, or from the adjacent northbound thru lanes of First, will be prohibited due to safety and traffic concerns. However, U-turns are currently permitted at S Hanford St, although heavy southbound traffic volumes (particularly during the afternoon peak) could make this a challenging maneuver. Naturally, SDOT will be monitoring the situation and assessing what options might exist.

(SDOT photo of the nearly complete offramp side of the new ramp, taken earlier this month)
Just announced by SDOT:

With the project approximately 95 percent finished, major elements of the Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project are nearing completion.  The combination westbound on/off ramp at First Avenue S and S Spokane Street will open to motorists next Friday morning, August 31. The on-ramp provides the only westbound access to the viaduct and the West Seattle Bridge from SODO, and its opening will eliminate the need for SODO motorists to take the detour across the low level swing bridge. 
 
The old westbound off-ramp at Fourth Avenue S and on-ramp at First Avenue S had to be closed and demolished to make room for the widened viaduct structure. 
 
Construction activity on the upper viaduct deck is also nearing completion, with the permanent barrier between east and westbound traffic installed.  Westbound motorists are now traveling in the final lane configurations, and the eastbound on-ramp from Harbor Island has reopened.
 
The most significant and visible work yet to be completed is the repaving of the eastbound off-ramp at First Avenue and the intersection with S Spokane Street at the bottom of that ramp.  As such, the off-ramp remains closed until late September.   North/south traffic on First Avenue in the construction area has been reduced to one lane in each direction, while the northbound lanes will be fully closed for three nights during the last week of August.

The old 1st Avenue South onramp closed for demolition in May 2010. Unlike that ramp, you won’t take 1st all the way to Spokane to get onto the bridge; the entrance to the new ramp is actually on 1st, more than a block north of Spokane.

ADDED FRIDAY MORNING: For those who asked about buses – yes, they will use this ramp too. The reply from Jeff Switzer at King County DOT:

This construction milestone will be good news for bus riders going to West Seattle. Starting Aug. 31, bus riders will have a faster and more reliable trip using the new First Avenue South ramp to the West Seattle Bridge, and buses will be less likely to face delays due to trains or when the lower Spokane Street bridge needs to open for marine traffic.

Metro buses have traveled a revised route since May 17, 2010, including Routes 21, 22, 35, 56, 57, 85, 116, 118 & 119 traveling East Marginal way to the lower level Spokane Street bridge to get to West Seattle. Opening the new First Avenue South/South Spokane Street on ramp will decrease travel times on these routes. We’re coordinating with the city so that we can revise our bus routes accordingly as soon as the ramp is officially open.

The previously scheduled closure for tonight of the eastbound lanes of the Spokane Street Viaduct has been canceled; however, the same eastbound lanes from SR 99 to I-5 will be closed tomorrow night, Thursday, August 16, as scheduled.

The Thursday night closure will begin at 10 p.m. and finish at 5 a.m. on Friday morning. During the closure, all eastbound traffic on the West Seattle Bridge will be detoured to northbound SR99. At the end of this closure on Friday morning, the eastbound Harbor Island on-ramp to the Spokane Street Viaduct will be reopened to traffic.

We are updating today’s preview and our ongoing day-by-day closure list to reflect tonight’s cancellation.

(SDOT photos, courtesy Darin Stephens)
Some driving the Spokane Street Viaduct in recent days have asked why squares are being cut from some of its newly paved surface. The questions started in the comment section following our Friday update on the close-to-completion project.

As promised, we followed up with SDOT. Project spokesperson Paul Elliott talked with project manager Stuart Goldsmith and replies that the problem is delamination – some of the new concrete didn’t bond with the old concrete: “Repairing and resurfacing the old bridge deck required a hydro-demolition process to clean and roughen the old deck to ensure a good bond when the new thin lift micro silica overlay was then applied. If there is any oil or other dirt remaining, we can end up with delamination/an inadequate bonding.” (The hydro-demolition process was discussed in our story about a work-zone tour two months ago.)

The delaminated spots were discovered with a low-tech type of testing, which you can see in WSB coverage of the Fauntleroy Expressway seismic-retrofit work back in January – “the best way to determine whether or not the bond is solid is to drag metal chains across the top and listen for problem areas,” as Elliott explains it. The problem spots (we’re checking back to ask how many) were cut out for repairs:

He says the work will not set the schedule back further. Meantime, other work that’s going on includes pouring of the permanent concrete barrier between westbound and eastbound – the green material is the rebar:

And here’s a section after the pour:

Milestones ahead for the project: Friday morning, as noted in our day-by-day closure list, the Harbor Island onramp to the eastbound SSV reopens after its long closure; starting next Monday (August 20th) the 1st Avenue South offramp from the eastbound SSV closes for about 5 weeks, during which time it’ll be repaved.

ADDED 6:18 PM: SDOT’s reply to our followup questions, which included: How much of the resurfaced bridge deck has the delamination problem? Why did it happen? What about concerns of an uneven surface post-repairs?

The percentage of the new roadway requiring repair due to delamination was less than 5% of the total resurfaced area and was well within expectations given the condition and age of the old deck. Delamination repair was anticipated as part of the deck refurbishing process, which is why we test it, and does not delay the project.

Drivers on the roadway, to include motorcycle riders, should not be able to detect the cuts once they are filled with concrete. We will continue to review the contractor’s work to ensure the roadway meets the required specifications prior to the city accepting the work as complete.

The Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project is unmistakably into its end stage – and “it may look done to the public” – but it’s not done, and there’s still a lot going on, according to the project team.

We heard from them at noontime today during the final meeting of a community task force set up to address communications challenges after the February closure that caught many by surprise.

So there’s still no date for the opening of the new 1st Avenue South on-/offramp, but project manager Stuart Goldsmith told the task force he expects they’ll be able to establish one “in 10 days or so.” Once they know the date the ramp will be ready, they’ll plan a ribboncutting for that date and get it open to the public ASAP, promises SDOT.

So why is this opening so much later than originally estimated? We asked that question, and Goldsmith gave a detailed reply. Believe it or not, the project is under budget and the contractor is still within the amount of “working days” in the contract – the explanation, ahead:

We first reported on the impending project in May 2008. But that, Goldsmith began, was more than a year before they awarded the main contract for it – here’s our report from September 2009, at which time SDOT said the project was expected to be “substantially complete” by the end of 2011 – a status which it now is expected to achieve sometime next month.

The point that has brought the most pain for West Seattleites, however, has been the lack of a westbound onramp to the bridge. The old 1st Avenue South onramp closed for demolition in May of 2010, at which time SDOT expected the new ramp to take as little as 16 months to build – the current almost-complete process has stretched a year beyond that.

To be fair, Goldsmith points out that another key part of the project, the 4th Avenue offramp on the eastbound side, finished “three or four months” early. (It opened in August 2010.) One reason for that, says Goldsmith – “we didn’t have to worry about coordinating with the railroad,” which has been a factor for the other side of the project. 4th Avenue was also in an area where “we could seal off and build,” and it wasn’t a retrofit, so it was “much easier to forecast.”

The widening project, including the new 1st Avenue on/offramp, though, “got off to a bad start,” he acknowledged. “There was a dispute among bidders the first time we advertised the contract,” and the rebidding process pushed the “notice to proceed” back 4 months past the original schedule.

The volume of work has changed too, he said – they’ve added some work along the way “based on things we saw that should be improved” and that added another six weeks or so to the “actual schedule time.” In addition, their original projections were “off a little bit,” he says: “Part of it was the difficulty in retrofitting an existing structure and controlling traffic above and down below – we just could not close things off the way we wanted to for the most efficient construction.”

That slowed the work down in terms of your calendar and mine – but “From the perspective of the contract, they’re not late, believe it or not,” Goldsmith insisted. “They have a set amount of ‘working days’ based on the project, not calendar days, and not every day during the project is a working day – bad weather could push the calendar out, change orders – and we did have a lot of change orders on this project, as we anticipated. Again, it’s a retrofit. We didn’t know what the problems were until we dug in.”

That included the early digging – for the shafts supporting the new construction – though Goldsmith says that went fairly well, despite running into “some obstructions.” But overall, “the calendar (started) to drift from all these little things. The contractor right now has until October 3rd to finish the project. Beyond that, we start charging liquidated damages.”

He doesn’t expect that to be necessary. However, project engineer Darin Stephens cautioned that October 3rd isn’t the last day you’ll see work in the area – “substantial completion” doesn’t mean every last thing is done. They’ll still have “punchlist problems.”

Since Goldsmith didn’t mention it in his extended answer to our “why later than projected” question, we asked about the 1st Avenue ramp’s specific problems along the way – the concrete that had to be torn out, the steel girders that took a long time to arrive. Those were subcontractor problems, he noted, with one revelation: At one point, the 1st ramp had been on the “critical path” – a core group of items to be done in a certain order – but “because of the slippages, it came off the critical path, and we started working around it and went on,” though that “delayed the efficiency of the contractor’s work.”

The contractor built in some cushion, expecting to originally finish “well in advance of (using up their) working days,” according to Goldsmith, while now they are pushing right up against the allotment.

It’s expected to finish under the $163 million project budget, he says, though he didn’t want to estimate how much under. The total itself is a downward revision made along the way (our past coverage indicates it was a $169 million estimate at one early point).

Key points in what happens next, while they continue working to a point where they can pick a date to open the 1st Avenue on-/off-ramp:

*Next week, Wednesday night 8/15 and Thursday night 8/16, the eastbound SSV will close 10 pm-5 am. Then on Friday morning 8/17, the eastbound Harbor Island onramp to the SSV will reopen to traffic.

*Monday night 8/20 and Tuesday night 8/21, the westbound SSV will close overnight, 10 pm- am.

*Monday 8/20 also marks the start of a closure of up to five weeks for the eastbound 1st Avenue South offramp (the 4th ramp will remain open) and the eastbound surface roadway between E. Marginal and 1st So.

*Wednesday 8/22 and Thursday 8/23, the eastbound SSV will close 10 pm-5 am.

Again, by then, if the projection offered today bears out, we should at least have a date for the grand opening of the new 1st Avenue on-/off-ramp on the westbound side – after more than 2 years of no access to the westbound bridge between I-5 and 99.

Our 4-plus-year archive of coverage of this project can be browsed here, newest-to-oldest.

All eastbound travel lanes on the Spokane Street Viaduct will be closed at First Avenue S overnight Friday, August 3, from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. on the following morning. During the closure, all eastbound traffic will exit at the First Avenue S off-ramp. Motorists wishing to access the I-5 or Columbian Way on-ramps can continue eastbound on the lower/surface S Spokane Street to Sixth Avenue S, where they can connect to the ramps.

The westbound travel lanes of the Spokane Street Viaduct between I-5 and SR 99 will be closed for two nights the following week, Monday, August 6, and Tuesday, August 7, from 10 p.m. both nights until 5 a.m. the following mornings.

Calendar of Upcoming Project Traffic Impacts:

Thursday, July 26 – Friday, July 27

· Southbound traffic on E Marginal Way S will jog to the west at S Spokane Street before returning to E Marginal Way S both nights form 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. the following morning.

Monday, July 30 – Thursday, August 2

· The eastbound First Avenue S off-ramp will be closed for four consecutive nights from 10 p.m. each night until 5 a.m. the following morning. The Fourth Avenue S off-ramp will remain open.

Friday, August 3

· The eastbound travel lanes of the Spokane Street Viaduct will be closed at First Avenue S overnight from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. Saturday morning. During the closure, all eastbound traffic will exit at the First Avenue S off-ramp. Motorists wishing to access the I-5 or Columbian Way on-ramps can continue eastbound on the surface/lower S Spokane Street to Sixth Avenue S, where they can connect to the ramps.

Monday, August 6

· Northbound travel on First Avenue S will be closed overnight from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. the following morning. Traffic will be detoured eastbound on surface/lower S Spokane Street and then northbound on Fourth Avenue S.

Monday, August 6 – Tuesday, August 7

· The westbound travel lanes of the Spokane Street Viaduct between I-5 and SR 99 will be closed from 10 p.m. both nights until 5 a.m. the following morning. Possible detour routes can be found on the project website, located at www.seattle.gov/transportation/spokanestreet.htm.

Tuesday, August 7

Southbound travel on First Avenue S will be closed overnight from S Horton Street to S Spokane Street from 10 p.m. until 5 a.m. on Wednesday morning. Southbound traffic will be detoured to Fourth Avenue S at S Horton Street.

4:41 PM UPDATE: In comments, David pointed out that if WSDOT went ahead with its “close the southbound Alaskan Way Viaduct Sun-Thurs nights TFN” plan on August 6th and 7th, it could be even worse trouble for late-night drivers .. but it DOES appear, per this even-newer advisory, that the state will NOT close the southbound AWV/99 those nights – see here. (We will put together the usual “all closures day by day” mashup a bit later.)