See the newest West Seattle traffic cams, “live” online

| Transportation | West Seattle news

New city-operated traffic cameras (NOT “red-light” cameras, just traffic-monitoring live cams) are finally online in West Seattle. Three of the latest images are “live” above – 42nd/Alaska in The Junction, Fauntleroy/Cloverdale near the ferry terminal, and 11th/Spokane near the “low bridge.” A westbound “high bridge” image is showing now too:

And there’s one at California/Alaska (see it here). The newest ones are not on the “traffic cameras” list on the city website, but they are on the Travelers’ Information Map. And we’ll add these to the WSB Traffic page tonight. (Hat tip to our friends at Capitol Hill Seattle and My Ballard, who published updates after discovering “their” new cams are online, inspiring us to check on “ours.”)

yeah right May 18, 2010 (8:29 pm)

these need to be taken down!!!

industrialbiker May 18, 2010 (11:04 pm)

Why do they need to be taken down?

WSB May 18, 2010 (11:12 pm)

Just discovered that when I posted this link to FB, a few people thought they were red-light cameras, aka ticket-issuing. NO, these are just “here’s what the traffic looks like right now” cameras – TR

JanS May 19, 2010 (1:16 am)

and they will be extremely welcome next winter if we get snow then, don’t you think?

yeah right May 19, 2010 (7:05 am)

no it is still an invasion of privacy.

moxilot May 19, 2010 (7:33 am)

Besides the bridge, I don’t understand the placement of those cameras. They aren’t high traffic ares (at least not so much that you’d be stuck for awhile and it’d be helpful to see ahead of time if it was backed up).

It kind of creeps me out.

cjboffoli May 19, 2010 (8:50 am)

Invasion of privacy?! Ridiculous. There is no reasonable expectation of privacy out in the open on a public street. Not to mention the level of detail prevents any faces (or license plate numbers) from being identified.

JanS May 19, 2010 (9:15 am)

ummm..yeah, right…exactly whose privacy is it invading? Care to elucidate?

sw May 19, 2010 (10:27 am)

Pictures of traffic jams are an invasion of privacy? Yeah, right…

gettinhomeontime May 19, 2010 (12:57 pm)

My first thought was ‘THESE ARE GREAT!!!’ The bridge and 11th & Spokane may be the most valuable of the month, Cloverdale lets you know when the ferry line is backed up and notes the flush when the boat unloads (and the Alaska may have been better at Alaska & Fauntleroy looking toward city. But they all will be a help? It would me nice if there was a link on the WSBlog’s main page “Bridge Cam” to choose the other cameras, (boy, we’re getting spoiled by technology). Oh, my second thought was ‘these are great’–help me get home on time.

WSB May 19, 2010 (1:10 pm)

gettinhome – there will be shortly. I also have to embed them all on the Traffic page and that’ll be our link.

Jacob May 19, 2010 (1:10 pm)

One step closer to big brother watching everything.

Like moxilot said, the bridge cam has some utility, but I’m not sure how useful the others really are.

Thomas May 19, 2010 (2:23 pm)

If any of you ranting about these traffic cameras actually understood the ideas behind “Big Brother” instead of mindlessly screaming “ORWELL!!!” whenever any government entity does anything you’d know there’s no threat from these devices.
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These camera feeds are accessible (and highly useful, as noted by others above) to the public. Even if they were super high resolution cameras that could identify a face/license plate the cameras only monitor public areas where no human has a legal or moral expectation of privacy (as noted by Mr. Boffoli, since photographers actually understand notions of privacy and the law).
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These cameras are a service provided to the populace, and provide no logical avenue to government subjugation. If you used them you could make an informed choice between taking the upper or lower bridge if you happen to be driving out of West Seattle, but that’s it.

JTM May 19, 2010 (2:30 pm)

Even if they were speed cams, take some responsibility. If you drive like an idiot (as so many do in this city) you deserve to be photographed and ticketed. I think they should post your photo on the web on a bad drivers shame blog or something. Anything to try to curb the speeding, illegal turns, general drivers’ entitlement and total disregard for right-of-way.
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I’m in agreement with the supportive crowd, especially considering the traffic chaos we have been thrown into. These will help my commute planning big time.

Jacob May 19, 2010 (3:30 pm)

Thomas,

“Washington State Patrol (WSP) staff also have access to our video system and can select, pan/tilt and zoom the cameras. Like the Traffic Management Center, WSP staff are able to record camera feeds.”

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/seattle/questions/

Smitty May 19, 2010 (3:44 pm)

I’m all for traffic cams, but I guess I don’t understand why there is a need for the Junction cams. Not many alternative routes that make sense and there is rarely – if ever – a huge backup anyway.

foy-boy May 20, 2010 (10:15 am)

Avoid paying traffic camera tickets. Just say you were not driving the car. It is up to the city to prove you were driving and not someoneelse. The cameras only show the car and lic. plate, and not the driver. Latest report says the city does not have the people to check out your claim about not driving the car. When the city asks who was driving you are not required to ansewer. It is up to the city to prove it was you. Kiro reported on this issue about two weeks ago.

Sorry, comment time is over.