Transit updates for next Thursday, Veterans Day, include the fact there’s no King County Water Taxi service (West Seattle *or* Vashon) at all. That reminder’s just in from the county, which lists these Water Taxi-less dates:
· Veterans Day – Thursday, Nov. 11
· Thanksgiving Day – Thursday, Nov. 25
· Day after Thanksgiving – Friday, Nov. 26
· Christmas Day (observed) – Friday, Dec. 24
· New Year’s Day (observed) – Friday, Dec 31
· Martin Luther King Jr. Day – Monday, Jan. 17
· Presidents Day – Monday, Feb. 21
One day after Metro‘s winter-weather briefing for the King County Council (our update with a link to the PowerPoint presentation is here) – which included an explanation of the “memorandum of understanding” between the city and county to make sure bus routes are prioritized during future snow – SDOT is doing snowplow practice again today, for at least the second time this fall. Thanks to Leah for the photo – one of 2 she saw on the Edmunds/41st hill – and also to Cheryl for a tip via Twitter. SDOT tells us its annual winter-weather briefing for the media will happen sometime next week; they drew up lots of new policies and procedures for last year, after Snowpocalypse/Snowmare woes in late ’08, but never got the chance to put them to use. No need to wait for that, though – this winter’s snow-routes map is already available online.
Via Twitter, Dartanyon sent that photo of a tree down across 21st SW, north of Myrtle, not far from Sanislo Elementary, within the past hour. We don’t have updated information yet on whether that tree is still blocking the road – we’ll be heading out to check – but wanted to show it as a general reminder that (a) with this heavy rain, you may run into sudden trouble, and (b) if you do, please share the news, since a localized problem likely won’t make it to the level of, say, an SDOT alert. Here’s how to reach us. P.S. While the latest forecast still suggests it’ll get windier later, that’s been downgraded a bit – the highest predicted wind speed is now 25 mph.
Two years after the stalled buses of Snowpocalypse (right) – one year after a virtually problem-free mild winter – Metro is taking steps today to make sure it’s ready, and its riders are ready, in case this winter turns out to be more like 2008-2009 than 2009-2010. Metro boss Kevin Desmond is briefing the King County Council this morning at 9:30 am; you can watch live on cable channel 22 or kingcounty.gov/council. And Metro’s just sent out a news release with reminders about the route-specific e-mail/text alerts you can sign up for now in case something goes awry with your bus (or the Water Taxi!), whether it’s snow, rain, bridges, or any other trouble. See it here (links included). We’ll have more on the Metro briefing later. (P.S. Our preview on the plan that never had to kick in last year was in this November 2009 story.) 9:43 AM UPDATE: The briefing has just begun. 10:46 AM UPDATE: The briefing’s over. No big surprises but we are working on a separate summary – we’ve also asked for the graphics from the presentation, so that we can share that info if you missed the briefing.
ADDED 4 PM: The summary’s been sidetracked but here, courtesy of Linda Thielke at the KC Department of Transportation, is the PowerPoint presentation given today – including an example of how the Metro website will look when they kick into severe weather mode. Interesting points included the county’s “memorandum of understanding” with the city of Seattle and its commitment to helping plow key in-city bus routes, particularly, they say, SODO.
Tomorrow (Monday) morning, the King County Water Taxi‘s West Seattle-Downtown run starts its new schedule: morning and evening commutes only, Mondays-Fridays. Here’s the full schedule. And note that until the Rachel Marie is back in service (still undergoing repairs from last month’s crash), the Sightseer is handling the run, which means to and from Pier 55.
(Newly released WSDOT video)
As reported when we covered the Alaskan Way Viaduct South Portal Working Group meeting last week (story here), this week is concluding with two milestones for the proposal to replace its Central Waterfront section with a tunnel: First, the two remaining potential design-build teams presented their proposals yesterday – and Governor Gregoire promises to go public later today with more information on those proposals. Second, the Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement is officially published, and the state wants to hear what you think. “Environmental impact” means a lot more than “ecological” impact – it includes an assessment of potential traffic effects and much, much more. You can see the report here; you can ask questions and offer comments in person during the West Seattle open house on November 16th; or you can offer your thoughts any of the ways listed here, till December. ADDED 10:43 AM: The governor has announced that both tunnel proposals are within budget. Here’s the WSDOT announcement.
In case you haven’t seen the signs that have been up along the routes leading to the 1st Avenue South Bridge – WSDOT has just sent a reminder: It will be completely closed 7 am-3 pm this Saturday in the NORTHBOUND DIRECTION ONLY for maintenance work. According to WSDOT’s advisory, a cracked half-century-old steel plate will be replaced during the 8-hour shutdown. (We’ll let you know here on Saturday if it reopens early – this alert also is atop the WSB Traffic page, which we continue tweaking to include more day-to-day information that you might miss in the main news stream here.)
Think your neighborhood needs a traffic circle? Speed-limit change? Something else to “calm” traffic? Check out this announcement shared by Delridge Neighborhood District Coordinator Ron Angeles – but this invite is for people from any West Seattle neighborhood:
A Traffic Safety Meeting will be at the West Seattle Library meeting room, 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm, November 17. Any resident who is requesting information on traffic calming of non-arterial streets should try to attend.
The westbound Spokane Street Viaduct closure that SDOT announced days ago for tonight into tomorrow morning has kicked in a bit early, according to a Facebook note from Heather – she says the southbound I-5 exit to the West Seattle Bridge was blocked off as of 9:30. That exit and the entire stretch of the westbound Spokane Street Viaduct from I-5 to Highway 99 will be closed until about 5 am because of construction work (part of the SSV Widening Project).
(Photo added 3:19 pm; SDOT crew at the top of the hill)
We’ve just heard from two people that the Admiral Way restriping (officially announced in early September) has begun. One of our area’s leading bicycle advocates, Stu Hennessey of Alki Bike and Board and Sustainable West Seattle, sends word, along with a suggestion:
The Admiral Way bike lane restriping has begun. The project will have partial lane closures in both directions from SW Olga St. to Avalon Pl. SW in both directions from Oct. 27th to Nov. 10th according to the no parking signs. This would be a great time to practice non-aggressive driving within the speed limit for the safety of the workers out there. … One bicycle “climbing lane” will be designated from the West Seattle Freeway offramp to Admiral and the Belvedere View Point. The right hand lane going downhill will have sharrows for bicycle designation. Hopefully we can convert that into a HOV, Bus and bicycle lane to keep the aggressive drivers from using the right lane to pass all the cooperative drivers and cut in at the bottom of the hill.
By the way, for bicyclists – Stu’s shop has been offering access to a bike rack that’s the same new style of bike rack you’ll find on Metro buses, so that bicyclists can practice with it if they decide to use the bus and haven’t tried it yet. While we stopped by his shop last week (as part of a TV story you might see tonight at 7 pm on channel 5, more on that later), Alki Bike and Board staffer “Apples” agreed to demonstrate it:
You can find the bike rack outside ABB at 2606 California SW. As for the Admiral Way restriping work, the official city project-info page is here.ADDED 1:16 PM: As M pointed out in comments, there’s a bit more advice about how to load the bus – and you can read the whole how-to on the Metro website (they have a non-embeddable video you can watch as well). And better yet, you can drop by Alki Bike and Board and practice in person.
(October 12 photo courtesy Jon)
After the stuck-truck incident shown above closed a West Seattle road for hours, some suggested it’s time for signage warning drivers well in advance, since this wasn’t the first such incident along some of the tight turns in eastern West Seattle. Michelle took the concerns to the city and shares the reply she received from SDOT‘s Christopher Eaves.
Thank you for writing and expressing your concerns about the freight vehicle that recently became stuck on 16th Avenue SW. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) shares your concerns about this roadway and the desire to avoid a repeat of this event.
Freight vehicles normally remain on large arterials and established delivery routes, and signage exists at major intersections to direct unfamiliar drivers to the preferred routes. SDOT works to place the smallest number of signs or restrictions on the roadway to keep maintenance costs down and to provide the greatest network flexibility. During normal daily operation, the minimal arterial signage is appropriate.
However, in circumstances where primary routes are not available, drivers will attempt to locate alternate routes. Some locations, such as the turn on 16th Avenue SW, cannot reasonably support the largest types of freight vehicles, and additional steps should be taken to alert drivers to the roadway conditions.
Full truck restrictions are not possible at this location since the South Seattle Community College Campus is located on 16th Avenue SW, but it is important to provide drivers with the proper information to choose the best route for their needs. To this end, SDOT has dispatched crews to review both the Delridge Way SW/23rd Ave SW intersection and the 16th Ave SW/ Delmar Way SW intersection to determine the best locations for additional Truck Route and limitation signs to provide the best guidance for freight vehicles.
(WSDOT photo from last weekend’s inspection)
As promised, WSDOT released results of last weekend’s Alaskan Way Viaduct inspection before the week came to an end. From the announcement:
Although no new structural damage was found, data collected by … survey crews
showed a column on the east side of the viaduct south of Yesler Way had settled a half-inch since the July 2010 visual inspection. This particular column has settled approximately 1 7/16 inches since the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake. This is still within the established column settlement threshold of 6 inches.
“The settlement we discovered during this inspection is very minor,” said Jugesh Kapur, WSDOT State Bridge Engineer. “While the Alaskan Way Viaduct is continuing to settle, it is still safe for drivers.”
“The viaduct is continuing to slowly shift and sink,” said Alaskan Way Viaduct Program Administrator Ron Paananen. “While this settlement is minor, it’s a reminder that we must press on with replacing this vulnerable structure.”
For the latest on what’s happening with that process, check our report from this week’s meeting of the South Portal Working Group – including the announcement of another viaduct-project open house in West Seattle (November 16 at Madison Middle School) to discuss the Draft Environmental Impact Statement that’s due out in a week.
Many of West Seattle’s neighborhood councils/associations meet monthly. Those that don’t tend to have jampacked agendas when they do get together – and as usual, that was the case with the Morgan Community Association‘s quarterly meeting on Wednesday night. Of all the topics tackled, the long-in-the-works RapidRide bus system briefing was the beefiest, but the MoCA meeting also brought news about other subjects from an impending development to neighborhood crime/safety concerns – read on:Read More
Thanks to MargL and Todd for the tip – a solar-powered sign showing approaching vehicles’ speed has just gone up on southbound 35th SW (which has been dubbed “I-35” along much of its length) near 100th (map). Signs like this are part of SDOT‘s Arterial Traffic Calming Program – read more about it here.
Two major milestones are ahead next week in the move to find out if a deep-bore tunnel really will be the replacement for the Central Waterfront section of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, according to presentations Wednesday to the project’s South Portal Working Group. That’s the group that has been overseeing the south end of the project, and how it ties to transportation systems feeding West Seattle and vicinity. One week from today, on Thursday, October 28th, the two companies still working on proposals to design and build the tunnel are scheduled to present their proposals, which should kick off a six-week evaluation process. The next day, Friday, October 29th, a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement will be out (as explained here), reviewing potential effects of the tunnel (and other aspects of the project) will come out, kicking off a similar-length public-comment period that will include an open house in West Seattle: Mark your calendar for 6-8 pm Tuesday, November 16, at Madison Middle School. Lots more new Viaduct-related info from the meeting, after the jump:Read More
Starting today, King County Water Taxi riders can use credit/debit cards to pay their fare – by buying tickets from the machines now installed at Seacrest, Pier 50 downtown, and Vashon. The one in West Seattle, shown in our photo, is alongside the southeast side of the main building at the pier, close to where shuttle riders get on/off buses. The machines sell one-way tickets; more info here. Meantime, if you drive along Fauntleroy or 35th SW to get to the West Seattle Bridge, as of about 6 am this morning, the electronic signs along those routes are supposed to start showing travel times, as announced by the city on Friday. If you just want to check online before you leave home, this map is supposed to show times for even more areas.
Just got word from WSDOT that the Alaskan Way Viaduct inspection/maintenance closure is over, and it reopened about half an hour ago, more than five hours ahead of schedule. Their announcement says this is what they did this time around:
In addition to structural inspections, WSDOT and the City of Seattle coordinated maintenance and preservation work during this closure. Work this weekend included:
*Surveying the structure to check for settlement.
*Repairing expansion joints and damaged bridge rails.
*Applying a protective covering to exposed rebar.
*Servicing drainage and lighting systems and traffic cameras.
*Washing the walls of the Battery Street Tunnel and inspecting its lighting and ventilation systems.
“Preliminary inspection results” will be made public by Friday.
The King County Water Taxi West Seattle/Downtown Seattle route is expected to return to normal operation Sunday, Oct. 17, pending the U.S. Coast Guard’s inspection and approval of repairs made to the vessel Melissa Ann. Service was cancelled Saturday because of a mechanical problem.
Right about now, the Alaskan Way Viaduct should be shutting down for Day 1 of its two-day semi-annual inspection – 6 am to 6 pm, today and tomorrow. And as announced last night, the Spokane Street Viaduct‘s westbound lanes will close overnight tonight, 10 pm-5 am. But its eastbound lanes aren’t affected – and during the AWV closure, the new 4th Avenue offramp on that side should help you get downtown without having to go all the way to I-5.
(King County rendering of design for future South Park Bridge) 11:14 AM: Just got word that King County Executive Dow Constantine and U.S. Senator Patty Murray promise a big announcement at the South Park Bridge at 2:30 this afternoon. This is about when news was supposed to come in about whether a federal grant via TIGER II would be available for all or part of the rest of the money needed to build a new bridge. 11:23 AM: $34 million grant, per sources cited by seattlepi.com.11:37 AM: More evidence that TIGER II announcements are coming out – found this East Coast story about a bridge-replacement project there getting $. And more here. 11:50 AM: The Seattle Times (WSB partner) is on the story too.12:37 PM: News advisory from U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott‘s office says he’ll be there too. It’s been three and a half months since the old bridge was shut down for safety concerns. The county has called the replacement project “shovel-ready” but says it would still take about 2 years to build once all the money’s in. 1:20 PM UPDATE:The Times story is updated with confirmation of the $34 million, from Sen. Murray’s office.
Today, there’s a little more information to add to the story published here Friday about the big changes Metro plans next year for the downtown portions of several West Seattle runs. As we reported, the biggest changes include switching the 21, 22 and 56 (among others) from 1st to (mostly) 3rd Avenue, starting with the next “service change” on February 5th. Now, Metro has added a webpage with the full list of affected routes systemwide, and more background info – see it here.
But Alaskan Way Viaduct work is a major reason why Metro has some big changes coming up, especially for West Seattle and SODO riders, early next year. WSB was there as Thielke and Metro’s Jack Lattemann outlined them in an informal briefing downtown Thursday afternoon.
Because of construction projects – also including ongoing utility work – Metro is revising more than 30 routes when the February 5, 2011 service change takes effect.
Two years after the stalled buses of Snowpocalypse (right) – one year after a virtually problem-free mild winter – 
Many of West Seattle’s neighborhood councils/associations meet monthly. Those that don’t tend to have jampacked agendas when they do get together – and as usual, that was the case with the 
Two major milestones are ahead next week in the move to find out if a deep-bore tunnel really will be the replacement for the 
“This is not just about The Viaduct,” as Linda Thielke from the
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