The West Seattle Bridge reopened in both directions late this morning after wreckage from the overnight crash was cleared. We’ve heard that the Water Taxi did extra business because of the traffic nightmare, and it’s adding some extra runs for folks returning home tonight. As of mid-afternoon online reports, no information apparently about who the crash victims were or what exactly caused the crash.
Picture this morning’s fiasco as an everyday event when they rebuild, tear down the viaduct. Oh what fun to come!!
Right…because god knows everyone will continue to act just like that viaduct is still there and get in their cars anyway.
It’s quite possible that each individual and, just maybe (though I clearly have no evidence from past behavior), the brains at City Hall and Metro, will come up with some mitigation strategies. I actually look forward to the day when the bus comes every five minutes instead of every half hour because commuters (and maybe people who just want to go downtown to a restaurant in the evening) with no other options DEMAND it.
I was stuck in that crap this morning as well. It truly tested my patience. In the future, if 3 idiots crash into the side of the bridge, please simply brush them off into Puget Sound and let the rest of us go about our business.
@ The House: I hope someday that it isn’t someone from your family in an accident like that. I’m sure then you’d want investigators take their time and do the investigation properly so you’d know exactly what happened to kill a member of your family. Yes, the back up was frustrating, put some nice music on, be patient, or go home and take the day off like I did.
@ JW & reader: San Francisco did just fine when they completely removed their Embarcadero viaduct and didn’t replace it with anything at all. (former Californian myself from that area) With enough advance warning people will find other ways to do what they need to do. And hopefully Metro Transit will plan ahead too to help. A bus through the neighbourhoods every 10 minutes would be very nice indeed!
Thanks West Seattle Blogger (whomever you are) for being such a great little info stop in our little neighbourhood of W. Seattle!
Comparing the 99 Viaduct to the Embarcadero is at best inaccurate and at worst disingenuous. San Franciscans did fine when they tore down the Embarcadero freeway because San Franciscans don’t live in the East Bay and don’t need to drive up the Embarcadero to Fisherman’s Wharf. The best comparison to the Embarcadero would be Harbor Ave. in West Seattle, which is a road that follows a peninsular shoreline. The 99-Viaduct is an important north-south corridor that serves both historic residential districts and local industries. The 99-Viaduct is more similar to the 280 freeway that goes through San Francisco or the Nimitz freeway in Oakland. After the earthquake, San Francisco did not tear down the 280 freeway nor did Oakland tear down the Nimitiz freeway because those were critical transportation conduits essential to the economic survival of their cities.
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