How the Water Taxi will factor into Viaduct closure: Remember October 2011?

| Alaskan Way Viaduct | Transportation | West Seattle news

With the Highway 99 tunneling machine restarting, WSDOT has been loudly banging the warning drum about the anticipated two-week Alaskan Way Viaduct closure, once the machine starts digging beneath it. Remember, we survived a one-week closure four years ago during the demolition of its southern mile in October 2011. As part of that, the West Seattle Water Taxi got heavier usage than ever:

(WSB photos, October 2011)
Some runs were at capacity. But this time around, the run will have a bigger new boat, as the M/V Doc Maynard is scheduled to finally take over next month. We asked Rochelle Ogershok from the county Transportation Department what’s being discussed so far to maximize the Water Taxi during the anticipated closure, potentially as soon as March, and that was the first thing she mentioned:

Specific to West Seattle the following plans are:

Vessel Schedule and capacity: The Winter Water Taxi schedule will be operated with increased capacity on commute hour sailings. Doc Maynard has a capacity of 278 passengers as compared to 147 passengers on Spirit of Kingston. This is an increased capacity of 786 passengers in the morning and 917 in the afternoon.

Water Taxi Dock Access: The Marine Division is coordinating with the City of Seattle on parking options along Harbor Ave and Don Armeni boat launch similar to what happened during the 2011 closure. Those actions included:

*Additional all-day street parking along Harbor Ave.
*Additional parking at Don Armeni Park

We are also investigating the feasibility of operating larger shuttles to accommodate more passengers.

Again, specific plans have not been finalized – we will continue to coordinate with WSDOT and City of Seattle on closure details and will share with riders as this information becomes available.

The extra spaces at Don Armeni went fast during the October 2011 closure:

Meantime, the state is promising ongoing information about the expected closure via this WSDOT webpage. The real test of the tunneling machine will come when it resumes work early in the New Year.

Jim Clark December 24, 2015 (3:22 pm)

Definitely not looking forward to this shutdown for sure. Think I will see if I can switch my hours a little later to avoid traffic for the two weeks

FreGirl December 24, 2015 (4:00 pm)

How about running a water taxi that goes between Admiral and Alaska on California??? That would be REALLY awesome. Especially since Seattle Metro can’t seem to get a clue that extending the 128 to the Water Taxi would be incredibly intelligent and increase usage! Riding the Water Taxi is great, getting to the Water Taxi if you are not on the shuttle route and don’t have a car is NOT.

Trickycoolj December 24, 2015 (4:22 pm)

I lived in Northgate during the last closure. Was there a significant impact for people traveling to points south of downtown from West Seattle like Georgetown? Seems like even northbound I-5 problems over spilling onto East Marginal and 599 can really bungle up getting across the bridges and going south.

Agree with extending the 128 that would actually connect High Point to the Water Taxi.

JimClark December 24, 2015 (4:43 pm)

The first couple of days I was able to head north on 4th ave and then get on I5 north to head to SLU but then it got real backed up and just going thru downtown was the best way for me up 4th ave then switching to 6th ave heading north

miws December 24, 2015 (4:52 pm)

FWIW, and I don’t know what, if any difference it might make, but one thing to consider regarding Tricky’s question, is that there’s once again a South Park Bridge, which wasn’t available during to 2011 closure.

Mike

Zanda December 24, 2015 (8:21 pm)

Something that really made the Viaduct closure worse in 2011 was the Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project. With no access to the WS Bridge from First Ave S, all Metro buses to WS were routed over the low bridge via the dreaded Hanford St crossing – where trains block traffic all the time. At least that won’t be a problem for the next closure – unless it’s winter and there’s snow. BTW, the problems caused by bridge openings are NOTHING compared with those caused by the operations of the railroad!!

ACG December 24, 2015 (9:05 pm)

Just our luck that Bertha will break down while tunneling underneath the viaduct and the two week closure becomes a two year closure until it gets fixed again, just like the recent fiasco. Sigh. Merry Christmas.