(Four WS-relevant views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
6:47 AM: The morning starts with trouble on northbound I-5 downtown, a deadly crash that has left only one lane open at Mercer.
6:57 AM: While SDOT described it as a lane, traffic reporters say it’s just the shoulder at one spot. WSP says the scene of the crash, which killed a motorcycle rider, stretches across 150 feet. As noted in comments, other northbound routes (especially 99) are slowed by the spillover.
7:14 AM: Thanks to Erica for calling with the tip – a stalled vehicle is blocking one lane of the Fauntleroy end of the bridge, not too far past Fauntleroy.
7:18 AM: Just heard the dispatch on that, so police are on the way to check it out.
7:21 AM: Again, NB I-5 remains almost completely blocked on the north side of downtown. WSP now says the crash scene stretched across 400 feet.
7:33 AM: While monitoring for updates, we’ll mention two other transportation notes:
BUS BRIEFING: It was late Monday afternoon before the City Council, as the Transportation Benefit District Board, finally heard from Metro leadership. We’ll be publishing the full story when the Seattle Channel video of the meeting is available; in short, there was no specific explanation of why West Seattle routes seemed to be disproportionately affected, just a couple things we’ve heard before – that the overall cancellation rate systemwide is miniscule, and that it should all be better in October (mid-to-late) when they finish hiring, which was described as a lengthy process. (So far this morning, the cancellations tweeted by Metro are NOT on West Seattle routes.)
WEST SEATTLE BRIDGE CORRIDOR ACTION REPORT – SPECIAL MEETING: Announced even later in the day, but with three weeks’ notice – City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen will host a meeting in West Seattle about the report covered here a week ago, suggesting 27 possibilities for improving the “West Seattle Bridge-Duwamish Waterway Corridor.” 6:30 pm Monday, October 19th, at the Sisson Building (home of the Senior Center) in The Junction, California/Oregon. (Here’s our story from last night.)
7:51 AM: Via scanner, we’ve heard police just say the eastbound high bridge is now clear – but still affected by the backup from the northbound I-5 crash (where one lane is open, no ETA for investigators to clear the scene).
8:39 AM: Still just one lane at the NB I-5 scene. We’ll continue to update here past the top of the hour, even once we move to other news at the top of the home page. Meantime, even school buses are affected, the district tweeted:
Transportation being impacted by major crash on I-5 early this morning. Many buses running 30-60 min late. Parents/students thx for patience
— Seattle Schools (@seapubschools) September 29, 2015
8:48 AM: Mike Jensen reports via Twitter that there’s (still?) a stalled vehicle on the eastbound bridge, parallel with Nucor. So if you’re going to brave the backup anyway, Admiral/Avalon might be better than the Fauntleroy entrance to the bridge … Mike Lindblom has tweeted that the backup stretches quite a distance back on Delridge Way.
9:28 AM: Per an exchange overheard via scanner a few minutes ago, apparently 911 didn’t have word about THAT stalled vehicle. A police unit told them about it and is now handling it.
9:33 AM: I-5 northbound lanes are all open at Mercer following the motorcycle-crash investigation, but backups are still reported northbound just about everywhere – will take a while to clear.
| 43 COMMENTS