You can be forgiven for blocking out the Fauntleroy Expressway Seismic Retrofit Project updates back when Viadoom was looming/semi-happening – but now that it’s over, it’s time to refocus on the work under way on the half-mile southwest end of the West Seattle Bridge. Quick refresher: This project has been under way UNDER the west end of the high bridge, without much effect on traffic, but its next phase will involve lifting sections of the bridge deck – and the ensuing closures (promised to be only at night, and some weekends) WILL affect traffic. When consultant Josh Stepherson was making the rounds of community-group meetings to talk about this, the most recent timeframe he had for these closures to start was “mid-November.” Now that’s here, so we asked him for an update:

The contractor’s plan to lift segments of the Fauntleroy Expressway and replace the bridge bearing pads, as well as, the traffic control plan for the expressway closures has yet to be finalized. As a result, the first expressway closure will take place sometime in December and not November as discussed earlier. Though this work is beginning a bit later than we had originally expected, we do not anticipate it will affect our overall schedule. … In the meantime work continues out on the site to repair some of the expressway’s columns and footings. This is the work that can be seen now if you were to drive by the site.

The project has been in the works for more than two years (here’s what we wrote about it in 2009).