West Seattle traffic: Viaduct-less Friday, AM commute

(More cams on the WSB Traffic page; travel times on the city Travelers’ Info map)
Good morning! No problems so far; we’re on commute patrol again, with the Alaskan Way Viaduct still closed (but still on schedule to reopen by 5 am Monday). First West Seattle Water Taxi run: 56 people. High bridge busy, as has been the case at this hour all week. More updates to come.

6:30 AM UPDATE: Weather’s dry till post-commute, per our friends at KING 5. They also are providing a new view of the high bridge this morning, covering the bus-lane crackdown from the side of the road – police are out one more time. Plenty of traffic. Meantime, commensurate with the lower-than-earlier-this-week Water Taxi ridership in the very-early going, the Don Armeni parking lot is wide open.

6:45 AM UPDATE: Status quo: High bridge busy, low bridge not (per KING’s helicopter view a few minutes back). Water Taxi carrying 63 people.

7 AM UPDATE: Same thing. If anything, maybe a little less traffic this morning (three-day weekend, anyone?).

7:15 AM UPDATE: 100 on this run of the Water Taxi. The high bridge is looking better than last hour, NOT crawling as you come off Fauntleroy, but slowing once you get around the 99 exit.

7:30 AM UPDATE: Quiet!

7:45 AM UPDATE: Link Apartments (WSB sponsor) in The Triangle to SPU in less than 20 minutes, tweets Whitney. … 94 on this run of the Water Taxi. As noted earlier this morning, the WT switches to its winter schedule on Monday – weekdays only, commute periods only. So this is the last weekend you’ll be able to take it till next spring.

8 AM UPDATE: Still smooth sailing.

8:15 AM UPDATE: High bridge moving along, not slowing till the usual point around 99. No trouble spots reported anywhere in the immediate commute zone. Awaiting the 8:15 Water Taxi report before our crew wraps up its week of hanging out at Seacrest in the mornings … here it is: 81.

8:30 AM UPDATE: If you go get on the Viaduct (what’s left of it) northbound at Royal Brougham, no traffic trouble there either, and we haven’t heard of any major backups along 1st or 4th this morning for those heading that way.

8:57 AM UPDATE: So quiet, we forgot the 8:45 update. We’ll of course pick up the traffic coverage again for the commute home tonight, since PM has been worse than AM for most of the week. And if the Viaduct opens earlier than scheduled, or if any problems erupt over the weekend, we’ll have traffic updates Saturday-Sunday too. Monday morning, we will be on early watch as well, since the new configuration of 99 could mean some complications until people get used to it. P.S. In case you were wondering … Daylight Saving Time ends one week from Sunday (so you switch your clock the night of Saturday, November 5th).

huindekmi October 28, 2011 (7:16 am)

Something new today… in addition to the police watching for bus lane violators, there was a TV news crew filming the whole process. You’d think after five straight days of ticketing violators, people would get the hint.

A October 28, 2011 (7:19 am)

Any good ways to get to the zoo? Why my son’s school planned their first field trip during this week is beyond me.

WSB October 28, 2011 (7:43 am)

A – you can get on the Viaduct from Royal Brougham; just take the 1st Avenue South exit and head toward the stadiums. It’s been open northbound from that point for much of the week. Probably easier than taking I-5 to the U-District and heading west. – TR

Myles October 28, 2011 (7:26 am)

36th & Raymond to Boeing Field: 19 minutes

Easy.

Neo-Realist October 28, 2011 (7:30 am)

Catching the 21X going downtown from Highpoint around 6:45am this morning–unusually very packed when it’s normally much lighter on a friday. About 1/2 hour to 3rd and Union.

always confused October 28, 2011 (7:59 am)

On admiral shuttle to water taxi…about half the people that have been on the rest of the week.

Mtn Girl October 28, 2011 (8:20 am)

By the way, King 5’s Tracy Taylor tweeted a little bit ago about weekend closures on Alaskan Way and WSDOT website says local access only for Alaskan Way/E Marginal (Hanford to Atlantic) as well as Atlantic closed between Frontage and E Marginal starting tonight through the weekend.

WSB October 28, 2011 (8:42 am)

The list of all those lane closures is permalinked atop the Events and Traffic pages here on WSB. It’s been a long, busy list for months.

Barb October 28, 2011 (8:59 am)

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the West Seattle Blog for the amazing coverage and to all the commenters too. This real time commute information as been an amazing gift all week (and always). Sometimes, even if your stuck in gridlock, it helps to know why amd what’s happening. It’s also helped me make last minute commute decisions. You all are an amazing resource to our community and I can’t thank you enough!

GF October 28, 2011 (9:04 am)

Has anyone checked the number of cars on the Vashon ferry dropping off in West Seattle this week? Maybe the good traffic is attributed to less of the ferry traffic clogging up our WS bridge.

chet October 28, 2011 (9:23 am)

Good point GF.

newnative October 28, 2011 (9:38 am)

The high bridge has been slow. No cops to bust lane violators. Traffic started moving after 1st Ave.

coffee October 28, 2011 (9:44 am)

Low bridge has no traffic best option.

A October 28, 2011 (9:49 am)

Traffic backed up to steel plant.

April October 28, 2011 (10:54 am)

I want to add my kudos to Barb’s. Thank you again, so much, WSB, for your comprehensive coverage of all things effecting us West Seattleites. Your coverage this week has been indispensable. I can’t imagine what life would be like without the WSB! We are so spoiled here in this hood by you guys. I have really come to rely on your coverage. Thanks so much for all you do.

WSB October 28, 2011 (11:09 am)

Thanks for the kind words. I’ll also put in our occasional plug – if you do business with any (and all!) of our sponsors (the folks with the ads on the right side of the page), please consider thanking them for supporting your only 24/7/365 as-it-happens local news source. Advertising is our *only* source of revenue – and we *only* sell local ads, no national, no Google, nothing. No investors, no co-owners, no grants, no rich relatives, no side jobs. We are glad that so many people choose to come here to get and share news (watch for word in a couple days of a BIG milestone), and therefore are able to find out about those local businesses too, because the more successful businesses we have here, the fewer reasons we have to leave the peninsula :) …. TR

jedifarfy October 28, 2011 (11:46 am)

The 23 @ 6:30 this morning was only about 2/3 full and we breezed downtown despite getting a little hung up getting TO 4th. I’m throwing in my bet for people taking a three day weekend. Thanks for all of your coverage!

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