TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Thursday, now and then

(More cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Good morning! For starters:

NOVEMBER BALLOT LEVY FOR TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS: Our report from Wednesday includes the specifics of what’s in it for West Seattle – and what’s not. Take the survey and tell the city what you think; if you can, come to the March 31st West Seattle meeting.

THROWBACK THURSDAY, TRAFFIC JAM EDITION: It’s an online custom to share retro photos on Thursdays. Wandering around the Seattle Municipal Archives last weekend, we happened onto some traffic images that seemed perfect to deploy here on TBTs … for starters, this is from almost exactly 58 years ago, March 1957, looking west from east of where the “low bridge” ends now, 11th/Spokane:

Click the pic to see a larger image on the city website (get a better look at the details including those buses on the left).

Jim March 19, 2015 (6:35 am)

The Nifty Restaurant on the right. I guess I’m dating myself…

David March 19, 2015 (7:12 am)

Love the flashback, Tracy!

WestSide45 March 19, 2015 (7:52 am)

Just east of the field of view heading west (does that make sense?) there was a gas station that gave out free 12 oz. glasses with a minimum 8 gallon fill-up…and they pumped the gas. However, that may have been a few years later.

bernstea March 19, 2015 (8:03 am)

58 years ago and there’s the same number of lanes out of West Seattle there are today. Something is not right here.

karen March 19, 2015 (8:48 am)

So building a wall of buses is nothing new!!

Rick March 19, 2015 (8:51 am)

And who could forget the Kayoia Room?

JanS March 19, 2015 (8:54 am)

bernstea…there were 4 lanes in, 4 lanes out. When the shi(p) hit the span , we were reduced to half that in and out. We were so thankful for the new hi rise bridge, and look at it now.

gina March 19, 2015 (9:10 am)

Those old style electric buses were slow. There may have been a 15, 15ap, 15c, 18, 18f, 18g, 18m, 20, 21,29,34,35,36,37 in the lineup. Seattle Transit SW routes.

bernstea March 19, 2015 (9:20 am)

And now there’s three lanes over the high bridge and one lane over the low bridge. 4 in and 4 out. Yes, the high bridge does eliminate delays when the low bridge is open, but then it’s still only 3 in 3 out at it’s max (2 lanes up the hill and East of 1st street). With the population growth over the last 58 years, you would expect more capacity.

Trileigh March 19, 2015 (10:26 am)

Hey, cool, TBT on the Blog! Love the historical photos; it’d be great to see more!

WSB March 19, 2015 (10:42 am)

The Muni Archives are the proverbial treasure trove. While going through them, I made a list of about a dozen photos just along these lines … and will be picking it up again next time I get a few free minutes.

WS4life March 19, 2015 (12:11 pm)

@bernstea You are absolutely correct! It’s too bad the geniuses that run the city somehow believe that capacity has nothing to do with moving traffic. Yep 58 years later and we are still facing the same problems. But that’s how government works takes your tax dollars wastes them and then askes for more $$$. If the past is the best judge of the future then well…

mtnpeak March 19, 2015 (12:59 pm)

I hate to contradict what some other posters have claimed, but I count four lanes now on the high bridge plus one on the low, at least eastbound. Yes one of the four is a bus lane, which keeps the other lanes all the more open to cars.

JW March 19, 2015 (1:55 pm)

So we build 12 lanes in and out. Where do those cars go? On the 16-lanes-in-each-direction I-5 and the 7-lanes-in-each-direction SR-99? And do they exit into a downtown that is all skinny hundred story buildings with 12-lane streets below them?

This way lies madness. Our exclusive reliance on private autos to get around is unsustainable, and we can either have a city for people to live in, or a city for cars to drive in. I for one am happy we seem to be making a decision for the former.

jim March 19, 2015 (2:20 pm)

The gas station was a Philips 66. And on the aproach from West Seattle was the predecessor to Kingen’s Salty’s and Red Robin dynasty, the Climax tavern and the original home to Marty’s tires too. route 29 never left the the peninsula as I recall. Just ran from Avalon in front of the original KFC now Starbucks, up to the Admiral Junction.

JanS March 19, 2015 (3:48 pm)

JW…one of the many reasons I work at home, so no commute…and I do not go downtown…well, almost never. But I do drive…buses simply don’t work for where I need to go, in a timely fashion…and bike? HA!…68 and disabled here…not gonna happen :)

bernsea…yes, that was my point. At the time, the bridge was a godsend…now? it’s a necessary evil. Going to a doc appt this morning, I noticed…Spokane St. Viaduct is mended and patched up the hilt only a few years after it was redone. There is still only one entrance/exit from bridge to either direction of I-5, so that still backs up (also 99) (did they really think that would change with all that work?). And I try to avoid the cluster*&@k that is a commute in the early AM at all costs.

WS4life March 19, 2015 (3:59 pm)

12 lanes in and out of WS seems like a bit of an exaggeration. But had we started planning building and infrastructure to support future growth 60 years ago we wouldn’t be in this predicament. Instead of catering to developers and people without families. And retrofitting old bridges and structures is only a Band-Aid. All one has to do is look at the current shape of our new/old repaved Spokane Street viaduct.
Forcing people onto public transportation. That doesn’t work for a lot of people who have families and kids, who have busy lives, who can’t do two transfers and a huge hike and take an hour and a half to get to and from work. Worse yet if your job consists of driving in and around Seattle. So in fact that doesn’t work for a lot of us. So what do you think is sustainable using one of the cities Car2go? They sure seem to think so because they’re ordering a few hundred more to add to your already congested streets but hey at least you get free parking with them.

JW March 19, 2015 (4:33 pm)

So taking public transport is hard, I got it. Seems like you’re claiming that driving a car ought to be made easy. What makes your form of transport more special, i.e., more deserving of investment?

Jim March 19, 2015 (4:40 pm)

Lucky Lager and Olympia Beer billboards on the left of the picture. Cool photo.

Magpie March 20, 2015 (6:02 am)

It looks like the bridge had just gone up and the left side was opened before the right, which is how it happened. I see that on the right , the red x is still showing, so I don’t think I would call this actual congestion, but bridge opening back up.

Sorry, comment time is over.