Update: California SW reopens after Gatewood pole mishap

| Gatewood | West Seattle news | WS breaking news

ORIGINAL 12:22 PM REPORT: A crash at California/Monroe (map) in Gatewood has California SW closed for a few blocks in both directions. As you see in our photo, it involves a car and a pole, and utility lines are down. No serious injuries reported. 12:59 PM UPDATE: Street’s still closed. Seattle City Light apparently needs two crews to deal with the pole/line problem caused by the crash, and is still awaiting the second one. 1:19 PM: Brian Zenk shares this photo from another angle:

1:51 PM: California SW is now open again. But you can’t turn onto Monroe – it’s blocked off – the pole is still at an angle.

11:19 PM: That’s one photo we didn’t use earlier – showing that part of the pole was knocked all the way across California to the west side of the street. As of just minutes ago, crews are still out working on the pole and the lines, and the California end of Monroe remains blocked off.

Wednesday February 6, 2010 (1:27 pm)

Wow, how did that happen?!

JanS February 6, 2010 (1:37 pm)

ummm..car has just a bit of front end damage, huh…

coffee February 6, 2010 (1:54 pm)

Looks like it was a vette, shall I say speeding????

WMF February 6, 2010 (2:25 pm)

I am utterly convinced that the driver of the corvette was moving at a reasonable rate of speed and driving safely… ;) Joking aside, I’m glad no one was seriously injured.

christopherboffoli February 6, 2010 (2:48 pm)

JanS: That will buff right out. ;-)

pigeonmom February 6, 2010 (4:01 pm)

Sincerely glad no serious injuries reported.

That said….

I honestly admit to schadenfreude.

Westie February 6, 2010 (5:03 pm)

I’m there are a lot of black Vettes with wheels like that out there, but interestingly I saw one just like this burn rubber from a stoplight near the Junction today – about this time of day. Wonder if it’s the same car?

rob February 6, 2010 (5:56 pm)

i’m actually surprised at the damage to the car. i’ve seen a lot of pictures of wrecked vettes and they get pretty messed up in minor accidents. the pole must have had a nice weak spot or something.
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anyway, i just drove by this at about 5:45pm and all that has changed is the car is gone and there are some utility trucks there. the pole is still in the same position.

The Hepcat February 6, 2010 (6:09 pm)

Looks like a case of “rapid de-celleration trauma”

Hope the pole’s OK

Born To Be Mild February 6, 2010 (9:23 pm)

Fast car, slow driver. And when I say slow, I actually mean retarded.

Joan Vermeulen February 6, 2010 (10:26 pm)

Utility crews are still working to repair the damage. Traffic cannot enter, or exit SW Monroe to or from California. Lanes on California are modified to let traffic by.

WSB February 6, 2010 (10:54 pm)

Thanks, Joan, was about to add that to the story as we just went to check out the scene again.

(required) February 7, 2010 (8:58 pm)

I just heard that Chevrolet is announcing a one car recall. Apparently the car is a black Corvette, and unlike Toyota’s fiasco, this Corvette has a huge telephone pole magnet lodged in the front end of the car, under the hood. It seems it becomes active only when the car is driven in West Seattle on California. So, if you happen to see it, watch out …

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