Traffic alert update: Stalled truck, car jam 99, WS Bridge

Todd_ November 30, 2011 (7:52 am)

@#%& !

work downtown November 30, 2011 (8:00 am)

Just yesterday I thought to myself that if a vehicle gets broken down on that stretch of 99 it will be a nightmare. I took the 4th Avenue exit north to downtown this morning. Phew.

Fansman November 30, 2011 (8:05 am)

Still crawling along. Avoid if possible

Snack November 30, 2011 (8:07 am)

Now we know what a blocked lane on the Viaduct detour will do. 45 minutes from Belvidere to Fremont via the low level bridge to HYW 99. Instead of the usual 15-20 minutes. Why is the back up worse than it was when a lane was blocked before the Viaduct detour? I guess because there is no shoulder for cars to move off to. Luckily my wife had not reached the 99 on ramp from the WSB so she could take the 1st Ave alternate route after I called her when I reached the office.

Snack November 30, 2011 (8:09 am)

Damn you Waste Management truck maintenance!!

lou November 30, 2011 (8:09 am)

40 min to just cross bridge from delridge ave onramp…just reaching 99 now. Wait before leaving if u can

Todd_ November 30, 2011 (8:12 am)

Disabled car at bottom hill too. Happy day :)

TW November 30, 2011 (8:17 am)

1 Hour to Bellevue leaving Admiral at 7.

Hungry November 30, 2011 (8:18 am)

Ridiculous that one vehicle blocking a lane causes that much of a back up. Why it is so hard to merge quickly?

ULTRAJOE November 30, 2011 (8:19 am)

as ‘Snack’ notes, it’s a garbage truck
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“nightmare” indeed, ‘work downtown’ – what a joke – took an hour from the Junction to SLU…

Bunnyfer November 30, 2011 (8:23 am)

You gotta love the infinite wisdom that “fixes” an already overcrowded 3 lane highway by reducing it to 2 lanes and not building any shoulders, breakdown lanes, or even mass transit lanes. You couldn’t pay me enough to make that commute now.

WSB November 30, 2011 (8:32 am)

It’s no consolation today or for the next four years, but that particular stretch currently is squeezing four lanes onto what will be ONE three-lane bridge headed south on 99, till the northbound three-lane bridge is built to its east (in the ex-Viaduct footprint). So it will ultimately be three lanes each way through there.

Thadeus November 30, 2011 (8:32 am)

WSB is there any word why it has taken 2 plus hours to move that truck from DOT. I went by at 630 it was there and drove by about 15 minutes ago and still there. This is crazy.

resident3 November 30, 2011 (8:32 am)

If u can take the 21 local it wasn’t so bad. 30 mins from Morgan to sodo .

JAT November 30, 2011 (8:34 am)

I don’t mean to come off as totally heartless; car problems are a drag. They cause the people involved immense panic, anguish and often financial hardship, and that’s sad. With that humane proviso out of the way…

It is the height of inconsideration for a driver whose vehicle breaks down or has a collision to cause these massive delays. The opportunity cost to society caused by indifference to regular maintenance or simple prudent traffic behavior is surely quantifiable into the millions or even billions of dollars.

Both the garbage truck and a town car in question today are business vehicles being run on the public roadways for the profit of private corporations. By refusing to keep their vehicles in good operating condition these corporations are shifting their economic externalities to all of us. I know this is “anti-business” but we need to send these shoddy companies a message by sending them a bill for all the economic harm they’re doing.

This is not a problem caused by government or Mike McGinn or by the viaduct replacement project. It’s caused by rational economic actors who see no need to maintain their vehicles or drive safely.

lou November 30, 2011 (8:36 am)

Dump truck just towed away

WSB November 30, 2011 (8:39 am)

Thanks, Lou! Franci & Thad – I’ll be asking WSDOT that … TR

Franci November 30, 2011 (8:38 am)

I went through this area just before 6:30 the truck was already broken down at this point. That means the garbage truck was sitting there for nearly 2 hours. Why did it take so long to get a tow truck there? It was stalled right after the 1st Ave on ramp – so it should have been very accessible, ie no waiting through the backup on the viaduct to reach it.

Mark November 30, 2011 (8:45 am)

100% agree, JAT.

MegJunction November 30, 2011 (9:09 am)

Sitting on the 55 on Avalon just past 35th…stopped dead. This gets worse every day – it’s becoming a regular occurrence for me to hop off, walk back home, and try again a few hours later. Totally unacceptable. Grateful for that luxury, though – feel for folks who are becoming consistently late for work through no fault of their own.

RobertSeattle November 30, 2011 (9:13 am)

Would be curious if there was a bump in Water Taxi riders because of this.

WSB November 30, 2011 (9:15 am)

At least one person headed that way had to change her plan (per Twitter) because she couldn’t even get to the dock …

mpento November 30, 2011 (9:48 am)

Really, I passed a broken down garbage truck at about 6.30am at that spot. Did it take almost two hours to get it moved? That is some nice smooth piece of road there with an S bend and a hill, it will shut down if it ever gets iced up.

let them swim November 30, 2011 (9:55 am)

I just returned home in north admiral by library.
Took me 20 minutes to reach Chelan Cafe so I could turn around and go home.
Don’t leave for a while if you don’t have to. Traffic is still backed up.
Happy holidays! No road rage please.
Everyone is in it now.
What a mess.

Aman November 30, 2011 (9:56 am)

Viewing the traffic cameras as of 9:55 a.m. both the bridge headed east & 99 headed North still resemble a parking lot. Any “real time” feedback available from current drivers on these two roadways? Thank You!

PigeonRidgeBiker November 30, 2011 (10:04 am)

Took over an hour to get 4.5 miles from Pigeon Ridge to the ID. When I saw that Delridge was backed up past Alaska, I tried to detour via Highland Park Way, but traffic was at a standstill. Ended up going all the way to Tukwila to get on E Marginal Way. Smooth sailing all the way up to Georgetown. Then I hit another nightmare gridlock due to the Airport Way Viaduct shutdown (https://www.seattle.gov/transportation/bridgerehab_airportargo.htm). What normally would take 10-15 mins took over an hour. This is madness!!

KJ November 30, 2011 (10:30 am)

+1 JAT

abstract November 30, 2011 (10:39 am)

One hour and 15 minutes to get to Fremont via the lower bridge to 99. I left at 8:15. I passed 3 broken down cars along the way, 2 on 99. Yuck. I feel really bad for people who have to be at work by a certain time. The last few months has made me consider moving out of West Seattle. :( I love West Seattle, and pretty much grew up here.

Dwight November 30, 2011 (10:50 am)

WSB
When speaking with WSDOT please inquire if there is a contingency plan in place to tow stalled vehicles from 99. Since there is no break-down shoulder towing equipment (including heavy towing equipment for large trucks) needs to be on stand-by during morning and evening commutes!

bluegirl November 30, 2011 (11:02 am)

i left admiral area at 8:45 and arrived downtown at 9:15…
…..but you are crazy if you think i will give away my secret….

seriously though….so glad to have the WSB. i was watching Q13 this morning. when adam gherke said there was a broken down truck on the viaduct, i instantly got online and checked the blog for the most current info. i usually leave at 8:15, but i called work and told them i would leave when the truck cleared.

Kim November 30, 2011 (11:02 am)

A couple thoughts here:
– It took 1 hour to even report a traffic problem (I drove in at 7 a.m. and was among the first to report it, even though I could see the backup from Admiral Way).
– After seeing the backup I turned to KOMO4-1000a.m. and there was nothing about it until much later that hour, even though the blocking truck was clearly visible from the air.
– Better traffic cams are needed for that stretch of road so we know when there’s a problem.
– Then West Seattleites need one place we can check before heading out the door to see if there’s a problem. Is that West Seattle Blog, or Twitter with a hashtag, or a Facebook group?

WSB November 30, 2011 (11:08 am)

When we get word of a major problem, we publish it to all three of our channels – here, Twitter, Facebook. It’s no longer a world where just one spot works for everybody – many aren’t on Twitter, some aren’t on FB, but some find it easier to access one of the preceding than to get to the Web … I renew our request for texts if possible (and certainly you can’t while driving!) 206-293-6302 because that’s our FIRST alert to many things, it breaks through everything. Stalled vehicles are a unique challenge because unlike crashes, they do NOT show up on the 911 log and you may not hear about them even on the scanner as they’re not necessarily something that requires police. I remember the Viadoom day when we happened to spot the stalled truck on the low bridge ONLY because we were driving the opposite direction to go out and look at traffic!

lindynw November 30, 2011 (11:03 am)

I went past this stalled truck at about 6:30 am; it was just past the merge lane on the right where cars from 1st ave/royal brougham can get onto the ramp to go up to the top of the viaduct, northbound. A tow vehicle could have entered at that point because there is usually not much traffic merging. Is there some way to find out why it took over 2 hours to get this truck out of the lane it was blocking? That is pretty crazy! I thought to myself…this is what will happen when there is a disabled in a 2 lane tunnel.

Spana November 30, 2011 (11:10 am)

And why don’t radio traffic alerts ever include info about 99 backups?

WSB November 30, 2011 (11:18 am)

Not an excuse but having had old-media experience … Keep in mind that the radio and TV in this area is the radio and TV for **22 counties**. They don’t consistently focus on any one neighborhood, and it’s really an inefficient way of doing things, but that’s why new forms of media (like this) have arisen … in some cases, it’s just no longer efficient for YOU to have to listen to somebody who is charged with tracking 22 counties including yours, so that you have to wade through “Up in Lynden, they’ve got a problem on I-5” …
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P.S. I just heard back from WSDOT. They pointed me to SPD. So I’m now calling them …
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(added) And SPD is puzzled but will try to find out something. I’ll keep trying …

chas redmond November 30, 2011 (11:48 am)

I thought that both SDOT and WSDOT had said there were emergency vehicles standing by just for this kind of situation. Either I’m not remembering their comments correctly or once again WSDOT and SDOT are acting as if they are truly incompetent – which I’m actually beginning to believe is the true assessment of their combined capabilities – nice managers and many open public forums notwithsanding – competence in delivering a service – in this case clearing a highway of a major obstruction – is the benchmark, not nice people at forums. Get with it SDOT and WSDOT or the dinging will get even worse from folks who up to this point have trusted your statements.

WSB November 30, 2011 (12:02 pm)

Chas – I have that followup question now out. Trying to clarify the accountability, for starters … am asking every public agency imaginable.

Jack November 30, 2011 (11:59 am)

@JAT
Accidents and breakdowns happen. You have no idea what caused that truck to fail. Your solution comes off as a completely kneejerk reaction to the situation.

The problem here is that the way that stretch of 99 is now configured (WS to downtown), you basically are one single auto malfunction or failure away (as proved again today) from destroying the morning commute. We have to have everything run almost perfectly every morning in order to avoid a commuting disaster, and that is just not a realistic view one should take. Yet it is the view those charged with our transportation infrastructure have taken.

We should have leadership in transportation that should anticipate problems and plot solutions accordingly, hopefully before the public becomes subjected to any major inconveniences. Blame those leaders that continually fail to meet the basic simple requirements we as denizens of West Seattle require in order to live and prosper: Improved transportation modes with pre-emptive expansion which is anticipatory to our community’s growth.

Is it too much to ask out City Leaders before you build your condos and apartments here in West Seattle, to plan accordingly for the population influx?

Why do we not have light rail running through West Seattle to downtown? Why do we have Leadership that can figure out how to build new condos and apartments all over West Seattle, but yet cannot come up with a solution to properly transport its citizens in a timely and convenient manner back and forth through Seattle’s major metropolitan areas? It would make the most sense to keep us happy and moving, so we can get to work, so we can make money, so we can pay taxes (Our City Leadership’s salaries)?
All the incumbents were re-elected this year. The majority obviously find no issues with the continuous aggravation the average West Seattleite endures in the simple act of going to and from work.

I take the bus. It takes me an hour and a half to get to the U District from West Seattle in the morning and over two hours to commute home. Not so long ago it used to be just under an hour both ways.

I love West Seattle so those obligatory trolls who lurk here that will tell me to move out of West Seattle can go shove it. We deserve better than how we are being treated right now, and it is going to get a whole lot worse before it starts to get better.

Flame On.

BTW I cannot compliment the West Seattle Blog enough for the services they continually provide to our neighborhood. You guys are awesome.

Courtney November 30, 2011 (12:17 pm)

Co-Worker actually passed by the truck at 6:05 this morning, so it took at least 2.5 hours to remove

WSB November 30, 2011 (12:20 pm)

Thanks, Courtney. I’m now awaiting a WSDOT callback …

let them swim November 30, 2011 (12:26 pm)

When good ‘ole st. Nick was in office, it seems that GT towing had tow trucks on at least one side of highrise bridge in case of an emergency.
Am i remembering wrong?

JAT November 30, 2011 (12:33 pm)

Actually, Jack, the truck broke down because in the middle of the night I crept into Waste Management, poured sugar into the gas tank and hit the distributor cap with a ball-peen hammer.

I’m kidding of course, but my point, completely knee-jerk as it may have been, is just as valid as yours: breakdowns and “accidents” (I believe transportation professionals shy away from that term these days) do not just happen. People and corporations do not exercise due care in the maintenance of and operation of their vehicles, and it comes at a tremendous cost to all of us.

Let’s say 10,000 people were all 1 1/2 hours late to work and their productivity is valued at $10/hr. That’s $150,000 that someone cost us all because they don’t regularly inspect their fleet for timing belt wear (or whatever it was) and we accept that cost as just okay.

I don’t think this is a politician’s fault; I think that’s a cheap and easy way out.

But we can agree to disagree on this minor point and neither of us have to move out of West Seattle.

Kim November 30, 2011 (12:52 pm)

WSB – my comments were not directed at you, obviously – you are our only hope. I’m frustrated with SeattleDOT, they weren’t tweeting about the stalled truck despite the fact that traffic was already backed up onto the West Seattle Bridge.

Also in this case, someone at Waste Management probably knew about this right when it happened so they *could* have told SDOT.

I completely agree with Chas Redmond. I would suggest that we need more traffic cameras or monitors. And we need a more official way to report and find out about traffic issues.

Beverly November 30, 2011 (1:01 pm)

Please do let us know what happened. I asked “Get Jesse” of King 5 to follow up with this and let us know what the WSDOT and SDOT is going to do to address this situation as we know it will again happen in the future. Perhaps the WSB should follow up if he does anything with this story since so many people were affected. Until we start asking questions and demanding answers, things will not improve. Lucky for those healthy enough and close enough to walk/bike to work. Not everyone can do this. Oh, and by the way, buses were stuck in the traffic in case anyone is going to push buses. And you go, Jack!

SD November 30, 2011 (1:07 pm)

Any word as to why the bridge was still a parking lot at 10 : 15 am? It took me 45 minutes to get from the Junction to First Hill

WSratsinacage November 30, 2011 (1:12 pm)

I hope someone’s @$$ gets put in a sling for not towing the garbage truck for 2 + hours, on a weekday commute morning no less. Totally unacceptable when the breakdown happened at 6:30 AM! Plenty of time to get your @$$ in gear and resolve the issue.
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For some reason, West Seattle (with it’s tens of thousands of residents) constantly fails to make it on most news reports (ie traffic) unless there is a scandolus story. Why is that?
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Jack raises some good points about city leaders who are pro development. I hear what you are saying Jack.
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In general, I hate to say “I told ya so” but this was one of the reasons myself and a few others brought up concerns and questions about density over the last 5 years on this blog. We were clearly in the minority though.
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Thanks for this Jack.. I liked it so much I am reposting :)

We should have leadership in transportation that should anticipate problems and plot solutions accordingly, hopefully before the public becomes subjected to any major inconveniences. Blame those leaders that continually fail to meet the basic simple requirements we as denizens of West Seattle require in order to live and prosper: Improved transportation modes with pre-emptive expansion which is anticipatory to our community’s growth.

Is it too much to ask out City Leaders before you build your condos and apartments here in West Seattle, to plan accordingly for the population influx?

Why do we not have light rail running through West Seattle to downtown? Why do we have Leadership that can figure out how to build new condos and apartments all over West Seattle, but yet cannot come up with a solution to properly transport its citizens in a timely and convenient manner back and forth through Seattle’s major metropolitan areas? It would make the most sense to keep us happy and moving, so we can get to work, so we can make money, so we can pay taxes (Our City Leadership’s salaries)?
All the incumbents were re-elected this year. The majority obviously find no issues with the continuous aggravation the average West Seattleite endures in the simple act of going to and from work.

FreeMarketLiberal November 30, 2011 (1:51 pm)

JAT, those evil corporations pay taxes also for the public common good. Doo Doo happens, don’t be so “Ralph Naderish”

WSB November 30, 2011 (3:48 pm)

So far, no definitive answer. WSDOT reconfirms it’s SPD’s jurisdiction to deal with problems, including this stretch. If it’s something small, they can get their Incident Response team over, but otherwise, it’s SPD’s job to deal with case-by-case. Haven’t heard back from the Media Relations person who was going to see if he could find out anything – and I tried to go elsewhere in SPD, but apparently all the lieutenants citywide are in some kind of training. The educated guesses are simply that it takes a long time to get a big-enough tow truck for something like this, but that’s not a definitive answer. Sorry, have somewhat run off the road for now … hope the pm commute goes OK … TR

jflonder November 30, 2011 (6:24 pm)

I guess this is an example of the traffic we’ll have when the Tunnel is done. Same limited capacity. Waterfront landowners getting a nice boost to their property on the taxpayer’s dime and clearly, inconvenience.

Kjb November 30, 2011 (7:42 pm)

i was with you bluegirl – love my secret way and the wsb for the heads up!

Dunno November 30, 2011 (8:45 pm)

Look, if folks have read this low in the thread they deserve the shortcut.

Take lower bridge starting from Delridge, get as close to WS bridge as possible if Delridge is backed up. Means going up to 21st from Delridge, go North bound on 21st to arterial just past new Cooper school, go left and it brings you down to Delridge and the light closest to WS bridge. If traffic is light on Delridge stay on Delridge but stay to left before WS bridge onramp. Next right takes you onto low level bridge, head over when road gets to two lanes stay in the left this brings you up to Spokane viaduct with two options: veer to right to get onto Alaska way viadut, left to get onto Spokane viaduct. Take 4th ave off ramp. Head north on 4th! You have options galore at this point…Downtown by way of 4th, I-5 north or souuth, I-90 west, or head west by staduim’s to on ramp onto Nbound Alaska way viaduct. Good luck!!!! Another option head up Beacon toward Beacon hill, at first light go right and make a U turn bringing you back to Northbound I-5. Always saves time when Spokane is backed up. Again, Good Luck!!

JAT December 1, 2011 (8:04 am)

FreeMarketLiberal,
You’re putting words in my mouth. I never said corporations are evil. I’m advocating taking personal responsibility here, am I not? Holding “freeloaders” responsible, no?

As for me being kneejerk, how sad that the name of Ralph Nader, the man who brought issues of roadway safety, consumer protection, and ecology to the public consciousness, has become an epithet for you.

robert powell December 1, 2011 (8:05 am)

seattle city planners need to move past the horse and buggy plan and wakeup . if you put a thousand cars on a road designed for fifty per min.it is going to get plugged solid. the tunnel is going to be a total zoo,it will be ten times the mess that 99 is now, so get ready now for what is coming. that is if they ever get the tunnel done at all bob

FreeMarketLiberal December 1, 2011 (9:56 am)

JAT, I was not aware of private corporations refusing to keep their vehicles In good operating condition. That just sounds absurd to me since that would cost them time and money.

Your first rant over a traffic mishap, comes off quite Progressive. Using Ralph Nader as an adjective to describe your rant, I thought, was quite fitting actually. By no intention was it meant to be an insult.

Have a nice day.

James December 1, 2011 (1:05 pm)

Did anyone get the number of the truck? Seems to me that the first place to ask is Waste Managment, the trucks have radios and the first thing a driver would do is call his office and they would call the tow truck. All in under 5 minutes. As for a truck not being avalible, BS, we live in a big city with lots of trucks. Does Waste Managment have a contract with a towing company and that company could not provide a truck in under two hours?

Aman December 1, 2011 (5:40 pm)

WSB:
Any “words” from SPD or the “Local Politico’s” responsible for the jurisdiction?

WSB December 1, 2011 (11:38 pm)

Nope. The person I need to speak to is apparently one of those in training all week.

Aman December 2, 2011 (7:53 am)

Remarkable that only ONE employee of the SPD can answer this question. I hope that the SPD lieutenants training class this week is on “Media Responsiveness.” I look forward to their reply. Thanks!

Aman December 5, 2011 (10:12 pm)

WSB: Any luck in securing a response from the SPD?

mpento December 7, 2011 (1:47 pm)

Now I’m even more curious to get an answer. My mind was imagining all kinds of reasons for the inability to get a timely removal of the garbage truck. But now that WSB is getting stone walled there has got to be some serious conspiracy involved. At the very least the person to blame must be related to someone important or they are in their position because of some blackmail payoff. The plot thickens!!

WSB December 7, 2011 (2:10 pm)

Frankly, the SPD people I do NOT have trouble reaching said it takes longer to get a big tow truck than you think. And a second one may have been needed here.

Aman December 8, 2011 (9:46 pm)

Pending a formal reply from the SPD, have any of our local politico’s be queried as to what happened and what if any action they have taken on the matter?