Midday notes: Royal Brougham ramp closed; Water Taxi followup…

4 midday notes related to our current state of Viaductlessness:

(Demolition photo by Erick, from a nearby crane; click for larger image)
*First, the Royal Brougham ramp to northbound 99 is NOT open right now. Though WSDOT had planned to open it 5 am-7 pm all week long, the demolition work has turned out to be too close for comfort, as the Seattle Times (WSB partner) reports. Current estimate is that it’ll reopen at 2 pm. Travis Phelps from WSDOT tells WSB, “No chunks fell onto the ramp. But we did close it for safety reasons to complete work to demolish a large section of the viaduct at this location.” (1:26 pm update – WSDOT aiming for a 3:30 pm reopening)

*Second, for those who wondered why the West Seattle Water Taxi couldn’t shoehorn a few more people in, the Melissa Ann and Rachel Marie currently certified for 150 passengers maximum, though the office of County Councilmember Joe McDermott (Ferry District board chair) reminds us they’re hoping to get that raised to 172 early next year. Meantime, even if the Rachel Marie wasn’t out for repairs (no estimated return time yet) today, they say, logistics of loading/unloading that many people make it impossible for more-frequent runs.

*(added 12:48 pm) Third – In our morning as-it-unfolded coverage, we mentioned the extra police patrols on the high bridge for bus-lane violators. SPD Blotter reports they issued 23 tickets between 6 and 8 am, all but one for the lane violation.

*(added 2:11 pm) Fourth – a link for your mobile phone to get the city’s new live video from the West Seattle Bridge – follow this link, click MENU, then click LIVE TRAFFIC VIDEO.

If there are any more traffic notes between now and about 4, we’ll add them to this story; that’s when we’ll start our comprehensive PM-commute coverage.

RobertSeattle October 24, 2011 (12:40 pm)

These are pretty cool too but I couldn’t get the time lapse to work and one of the cameras hasn’t updated since 420 this morning.

http://wsdot.wa.gov/projects/viaduct/camera/

sw October 24, 2011 (12:43 pm)

Awesome photo! Would love to see a daily pic from that vantage point.

Wendell October 24, 2011 (12:59 pm)

Bus lane violations. I guess there are at least 22 people still living under rocks.

Amanda October 24, 2011 (1:34 pm)

I was thinking the same thing SW!

chrisma October 24, 2011 (2:22 pm)

That’s A LOT of concrete to break up and remove in 10 days. Wow!

33Pete October 24, 2011 (2:48 pm)

Any data on the ridership volume for the return trip from downtown to West Seattle? I expect that there will be a massive crowd for the 5:15 trip, but was wondering whether there has already been a rise in the afternoon.

JanS October 24, 2011 (2:56 pm)

I’m thinking he may update periodically. Erick has a great job/vantage point..if you don’t mind heights :)

james October 24, 2011 (3:38 pm)

Yeah for pulling over people driving in the bus lane!! GO SPD.

Greg October 24, 2011 (4:24 pm)

Thanks for the coverage WSB… just wondering why this story isn’t showing up on the home page? Newest story on home page is this morning’s commute, showing with a 7:17am update and only 14 comments, but when you click on story it has much later updates and 100+ comments. Home page seems not to be updating with current content…

WSB October 24, 2011 (4:44 pm)

Greg – we are having a caching problem with some browsers. Everybody with Chrome is great. Firefox and Safari and maybe IE, not. Been troubleshooting it for hours and sadly have not solved it yet but we’ve been trying to get word out via Facebook and Twitter to just directly link into stories. We published several since the morning story (and had added lots of updates to that) … TR

Mel October 24, 2011 (4:30 pm)

State of Viaductlessness – yep.
.
State of (Water Taxi) preparedness – nope.
.
What kind of fool doesn’t make sure both the boats are in good repair for the biggest demand time perhaps ever?
.
I’d like to know the name of this person.

Greg October 24, 2011 (4:48 pm)

OK thanks WSB, I am using Firefox and I see now that home page is updating properly for me… much appreciated!

metrognome October 24, 2011 (10:40 pm)

hey mel, next time your car doesn’t start, are you a fool because it worked the last time you started it and you maintain it on a regular basis? Sometimes, stuff happens. Every car or bus or boat ran the time before it didn’t start.

Sorry, comment time is over.