TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Friday updates

(SDOT camera looking at northbound 99 @ Lander; West Seattle Bridge cams not working currently)
6:05 AM: An early-morning crash at 1st and Seneca involving a Seattle Police vehicle is blocking the northbound Alaskan Way Viaduct‘s Seneca offramp, so among other things, that means a bus reroute, says Metro:

Metro’s Friday AM commute is underway and starts off with Routes 21E, 55, 56E, 57 & RapidRide C & D Lines temporarily rerouted and using 4 Av S into Downtown Seattle due to blockage at the Alaskan Way Viaduct off ramp.

6:42 AM UPDATE: The ramp has now reopened – and Metro says buses are back to their normal routing.

9:47 AM UPDATE: We can of course share your photos from the commute, too, any time – just got this West Seattle Water Taxi view with today’s wonderful sunrise, from Jennifer:

From sunrise/sunset colors, to crowded/uncrowded buses, to weather/traffic scenes, share a photo any time.

3:43 PM UPDATE: There’s a backup on the southbound Viaduct – a truck didn’t make clearance under the lid, according to a photo sent to us by Riley:

5:26 PM: Metro just tweeted that more RapidRide C Line evening runs are coming:

Big gaps between RapidRide buses downtown? Yep. That’s why we’re phasing in more evening C Line trips starting Nov. 5 and 13. Stay tuned.

— King County Metro (@kcmetrobus) November 3, 2012

Robert November 2, 2012 (6:31 am)

Would be nice if the city had a webcam pointing at the Seneca off ramp.

WSB November 2, 2012 (6:40 am)

Would be nice this morning if even the bridge cams were working! Anyway – our friends at KING say the ramp is about to reopen. As soon as we have confirmation of that (we browse TV while monitoring traffic in the mornings as well as Twitter, the scanner, etc.) we’ll update. Metro is pretty good about updates too, via e-mail, text alert, Twitter, so we know they’ll confirm too – TR
- WSB November 2, 2012 (6:42 am)
  
  ..and, it’s open.

DonaLuisa November 2, 2012 (6:48 am)

What a relief, cuz I’m on the C line (Sea Lion?) right now and he has taken the usual route.

Amiee November 2, 2012 (7:38 am)

As of 7:35, the 120 is still taking 4th instead of the viaduct.

jedifarfy November 2, 2012 (7:57 am)

Odd, my 120 took the normal route and we get downtown about 7:30 or so.

Packed bus this morning, but very little delay getting onto, over, and off the bridge. Fairly quick commute.

kevin November 2, 2012 (7:58 am)

Cool shot! Where did you find this cam?

WSB November 2, 2012 (9:14 am)

Kevin – this Viaduct cam has been on the WSB Traffic page for some months. I don’t know if it had an interesting angle when you looked at it – I’ve been offline in a meeting for about an hour – but it usually looks north over 99 from SODO.

Glenn November 2, 2012 (7:59 am)

57 eastbound at 8:00 am making very fast progress and with a nice sunrise to boot.

Chris W November 2, 2012 (8:00 am)

Took the 55 from Admiral around 7:08. Smooth sailing.

dq November 2, 2012 (10:46 am)

Had to go in a little later than usual today. As the last bus to leave near my house is 7:30 AM, and the latest bus is just over a mile walk and leaves at 9:00 AM, I drove to the Junction a little after 9:00 AM. Granted, I could have walked the mile plus and hopped on the 50 that then would have taken me an additional 15 minutes to the Junction where I then would have waited for a bus that has no schedule…. As I tried to find a place to park near the Junction, I see that I am not the only one who has chosen this path. I finally get to the stop. The reader says 12 minutes. Then immediately it says 6 minutes. Then 7 minutes. Then nothing. Then 2 minutes! The bus arrives, and it is standing room only.

lazybeard November 2, 2012 (11:59 am)

Is the watertaxi running late tonight with the Sounders playoff game?

WSB November 2, 2012 (11:59 am)

No. The county said the extra runs would only be possible during the summer schedule, not the fall/winter.

jedifarfy November 2, 2012 (5:06 pm)

It just took 20 minutes to go from 3rd & Pike to 2nd and Seneca because of cars blocking intersections and bus lanes. I dream of a day when we can get more traffic controls so this stops happening.

KC November 2, 2012 (5:07 pm)

Thoughts of my first day taking the RapidRide to work.

Overall grade: C+

The good.
Got a seat on both the way in and the ride home. 11:15ish ride into downtown, 4:40 ride home.

The bad.
Wifi was broken on the bus this morning. Failed to connect with my Kindle tablet and my iPhone.

Card reader at the stop for the ride home was broken (1st ave queen anne & Denny)

Waited about 25 minutes for a bus for the ride home.

Jeff Switzer, King County Metro November 2, 2012 (7:16 pm)

KC, Thanks for these notes. I’ll pass them along. Hoping frequency improves as we phase in more buses for the C Line evening commute to West Seattle. http://www.kingcounty.gov/transportation/kcdot/NewsCenter/NewsReleases/2012/November/nr110212_MoreCLineTrips.aspx

glenn November 2, 2012 (9:00 pm)

@jeff Switzer, King County Metro. Clap Clap Clap. I can’t wait to see more busses and regular frequency on the evening commute home!

KC November 2, 2012 (9:55 pm)

@Jeff Switzer thanks for the reply and metro’s continued persistence in making this work better for all of us.

the dancing kat November 3, 2012 (3:17 pm)

While driving north on California around 3:30ish pm yesterday (Friday) I thought it extremely odd that 3 RR C-line busses were all heading south within a few blocks of each other….It seems they come in clusters instead of the timed spacing that would allow riders not to have to wait so long Downtown to get home. Why are there such timing issues with this new system. PS. Rode RR home to WS on Thursday around 1pm. Waited 15 min…bus was standing room only even at that time of day.

Sorry, comment time is over.