TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Thursday updates

(Click any view for a close-up; more cameras on the WSB Traffic page)

6:14 AM: We start this morning with an incident at Delridge/Orchard. A texter says it’s a collision involving a bicycle rider. We’re on our way to find out.

6:30 AM: The medical call at the intersection has closed, meaning SFD crews are no longer involved.

6:33 AM: Our crew has arrived and the scene’s completely clear – no police, either. If anyone had been seriously hurt, investigators would still be on scene; we’ll call around later this morning to follow up. Meantime:

WEEKEND VIADUCT/HIGHWAY 99 REMINDER: WSDOT plans its twice-yearly inspection of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, starting Saturday 6 am-6 pm and continuing Sunday 6 am-6 pm if needed; separate from the inspection, Highway 99 will be closed both ways north of the Battery Street Tunnel 6 am-noon on Sunday for the Hot Chocolate Run – get the specifics here.

7:52 AM: Commenters are reporting a truck problem on NB 99 “at the top of the S-curves.”

7:54 AM: SDOT now finally has this:

Stalled vehicle blocking right lane of NB SR 99 at King St. Expect delays. pic.twitter.com/rXssDdT8Zk

— seattledot (@seattledot) March 3, 2016

7:58 AM: … and now SDOT says it’s cleared but “residual backup remains.”

8:45 AM: Again this morning, we’re getting reports that the northbound school-zone lights on Fauntleroy by Gatewood Elementary aren’t working, but that the speed cam seems to be. We’ve asked those who mentioned this to be sure to report it to SDOT, but if they did, it hasn’t been fixed yet, so we’re checking with SDOT and should have a separate story later today.

Seth March 3, 2016 (7:26 am)

As of 10 minutes ago, garbage truck stranded at top of S-curves on NB 99. Made things slow. 1st AVE has to be a better option.

stb March 3, 2016 (7:38 am)

First is NOT better. Trying Fourth now.

Mark March 3, 2016 (7:50 am)

The garbage truck was still there at around 07:40. Bleh.

WSB March 3, 2016 (7:56 am)

Thanks all, SDOT has only just now acknowledged this, at 7:54 am via Twitter.
- WSB March 3, 2016 (8:00 am)
  
  … and then a couple minutes later tweeted that it’s cleared.

Rick March 3, 2016 (8:27 am)

Wow! Cleared six minutes after initial report.That should boost their performance reports.

WSB March 3, 2016 (8:37 am)

SDOT isn’t involved with clearing – SPD is. I’m wondering if something’s going on with SDOT’s traffic management center, as this is the third incident this week, in this area anyway (can’t speak for the rest of the city), that they didn’t have – after the Harbor/Avalon/Spokane incident last night and the bridge crash parallel with Nucor the other morning – and if there’s no injury-related SFD dispatch (as with all three incidents), SDOT reporting is the only other real-time official way for news of such incidents to get out to us and other orgs … TR

Franci March 3, 2016 (8:59 am)

SPD really needs to have an emphasis on the bus lane and NOT announce the hours of its emphasis patrol, some people just take advantage of knowing the hours that it is being watched. This happened at 6:45 am this morning.

This morning there were 3 or 4 cars in bus lane where it enters the bridge from Admiral/Harbor Ave ramp and in one of those vehicles was a woman in a white sedan that traveled the bus lane from the Admiral/Harbor Ave on ramp all the way to just before the lane to 99 gore point where she then merged into the 99 lane.

Joe March 3, 2016 (9:32 am)

Same with the double white line area. It’s bad enough when they cross the lines to merge in the short straightaway. But this morning I saw someone cross the lines then speed up to the curve at the top and play chicjen with the guard rail and forcing their way in, seriously cutting off the vehicle already in the lane.

Tim March 3, 2016 (9:08 am)

wife witnessed the bike accident on delridge this morning. Car hit cyclist near Shell Station, cyclist seemed to avoid serious injuries

WSB March 3, 2016 (9:18 am)

Thank you, Tim. That is the assumption we generally make if the scene clears pretty quickly, but it’s good to hear verification, as it’s difficult to get followup information from SPD/SFD if we miss them at the scene – the reports take a while to get into the system – TR

KISS March 3, 2016 (9:17 am)

I called SDOT to report the malfunctioning northbound school-zone lights on Fauntleroy by Gatewood Elementary and to confirm my ticket would be voided and the SDOT representative named Lynette just laughed at me and hung up. So good luck to the estimated 500+ drivers who unkowingly got a very expensive ticket this morning, you are in for a real headache.

sam-c March 3, 2016 (9:42 am)

What makes it malfunctioning? Just curious.

Like, was it blinking and taking photos outside of the typical school start times? Or, was it taking photographs of cars without the yellow blinking lights being on?
- KISS March 3, 2016 (10:11 am)
  
  Sam-C and HelperMonkey, I drove through at 8:30am and the school zone lights in the northbound direction on Fauntleroy were completely off. No lights at all, nothing. So there was no indication whatsoever driving in that direction that the 20 mph school zone speed limit was in effect. I personally don’t have the daily school zone speed limit enforcement periods memorized so unless the lights are flashing I assume it is 30 mph. It wasn’t until I got to other end of the school zone and saw traffic slowing in the southbound direction that I realized something was wrong. I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw that the school zone lights in the southbound direction were flashing. I went back to take video and photos of the inactive northbound school zone lights to use as evidence to fight the $250 ticket I’m expecting to receive in the mail soon. During the five minutes that I was taking video/photos, I witnessed the ticketing camera go off on at least 50 cars driving 30 mph through the school zone because the lights were off. I’m guessing half of the drivers ticketed this morning are Vashon Island residents. When I called SDOT they acknowledged the outage and said it was a software glitch that SDOT was working to resolve, but when I asked if my ticket would be voided the rep laughed and said she has nothing to do with that. The city should do the right thing and purge all tickets issued during the period when the lights were not working, but I seriously doubt that will happen. So 500+ of us will have to use valuable time off work to clog up traffic court to try to get our tickets voided.
  - WSB March 3, 2016 (10:47 am)
    
    OK, I have an answer from SDOT, which says tickets issued while beacon was out will NOT be charged. I am publishing a separate story in a few minutes, just for the record. – TR
    
    (added) Correction – they say that while the machine is photographing, tickets will not be issued.
sam-c March 3, 2016 (9:42 am)

What makes it malfunctioning? Just curious.

Like, was it blinking and taking photos outside of the typical school start times? Or, was it taking photographs of cars without the yellow blinking lights being on?
HelperMonkey March 3, 2016 (9:42 am)

@KISS can you explain how were they malfunctioning? I went through this morning and now am scared I’ll get a ticket even though I was going well under 20mph. I didn’t see the flash on myself or any other drivers at the time I went through (approx 8am) and the yellow indicator lights were flashing as normal.
- WSB March 3, 2016 (9:57 am)
  
  The beacon on northbound Fauntleroy has not been flashing during the hours it should, apparently. Patrick saw this for himself when he went down to check it out (I had added some info in the narrative above) an hour or so ago. – TR

Rick March 3, 2016 (9:19 am)

Wasn’t implying SDOT cleared it. I realize SPD does that job. Just tryin’ to have a little fun this AM before heading to the salt mines.

Joe March 3, 2016 (9:34 am)

True, not that long ago it took hours to remove a stall.

candrewb March 3, 2016 (2:21 pm)

Does anyone know why the 1st Ave South onramp has been busy enough to cause back ups onto I5 during the evening rush? Is there a closure somewhere causing this or is this just our new reality?

Sorry, comment time is over.