West Seattle traffic alert: Crash on southbound I-5, by bridge

Heads-up if you are heading south of West Seattle – there’s a big crash on southbound I-5 right at the end of the bridge. Seattle Fire says via Twitter that it involves a bus, with at least five people hurt, one in critical condition.

12:43 PM UPDATE: According to the State Patrol, a semi-truck headed east from West Seattle collided with a charter bus. SFD update on patients: 1 critical patient & 4 serious patients heading to Harborview, 1 serious patient to Swedish, 1 serious patient to Virginia Mason. 2 lanes are blocked at the crash site (see the latest traffic-camera view above).

1:03 PM UPDATE: If you are anywhere from the WS Bridge northward, you will definitely want to avoid southbound I-5 TFN:

Drivers advised to use alt. routes. 11 mile backup on SB I-5 due to collision at W. Seattle Bridge

— WSDOT Traffic (@wsdot_traffic) August 29, 2013

2:37 PM UPDATE: The backup is STILL about 11 miles, according to WSDOT. So if you usually take I-5 southbound home to get to West Seattle – start thinking about an alternate route. We’ll update when the commute gets closer.

work downtown August 29, 2013 (2:45 pm)

Viaduct southbound is also a parking lot.

Wes Cider August 29, 2013 (3:30 pm)

To make matters worse, there’s a Seahawk game tonight.

Joan Vermeulen August 29, 2013 (3:33 pm)

Use alternative routes…

Sure, if only there were any.

I-5 is a mess, 99 is a mess, as is 405.

snowball August 29, 2013 (3:53 pm)

Thanks for the heads up! Left work early after seeing this and headed to water taxi. Only a couple people in line.

Candace McCutcheon August 29, 2013 (4:00 pm)

I sure hope the people who were in that awful wreck are going to be all right. I was in a bad accident in 2003 when an asleep, unlicensed driver hit me, as I waited at a red light. It’s better now, but if I hadn’t been in my dad’s wonderful 1990 760 Volvo Turbo Intercooler (it was a wonderful car that got totaled of course), they said I’d probably be in a wheelchair. Please be careful out there folks and I pray for the best outcome possible for the people involved in the accident who got hurt.

sophista-tiki August 29, 2013 (4:58 pm)

Holy CRAP, bus /semi crash sucks. hope everyone recovers. Trying to drive in and out of WS this week has been practiically IMPOSSIBLE. If the shitty wasnt trying to do every road construction project all the same time while simultaneously rerouting traffic becaUSE of some dumbass ball game we might actually be able to skirt a freeway accident. The way traffic directing is handled by the police around here is seriously flawed to say the least.