(TOPLINE: Highland Park Way hill will be closed “through Thursday” per SDOT)
(WSB photos: First two taken ~12:30 pm)
1:14 PM: SDOT now says the Highland Park Way hill is likely to remain closed at least “into tomorrow.” That’s the newest development in connection with the early-morning slide that shut down the busy road between West Marginal Way SW and SW Holden.
Here’s our morning report (thanks again to everyone who texted us when it all began around 5 am); we just went back to the top of the hill for another look, and as you can see in our photo above, there’s lots of activity. Here’s the newest information from SDOT spokesperson Sue Romero:
SDOT continues to work with Seattle City Light at the site of the slide that occurred on Highland Park Way SW. A slide came down this morning above Highland Park Way SW, then a second slide came down, pushing material about 500 feet further, over Highland Park Way SW.
SDOT has cleared some of the material from the lower slide so SCL trucks can gain access. SCL is working to clear some trees that are pushing on some power poles. Geotech engineers are assessing the situation.
We expect Highland Park Way to remain closed through today and into tomorrow as more rain is expected to fall tonight into tomorrow.
Meantime, the power outage caused by the slides, which peaked at more than 2,000 homes/businesses, is over for all but two customers, according to City Light’s outage map, which also has been fixed.
We’ll be updating this story throughout the afternoon, including any related traffic advisories for the pm commute – again, expect Highland Park Way to remain closed TFN, and plan your alternate route and travel time accordingly.
3:13 PM: Bus reminder: “Metro Route 131 continues to be rerouted off of a portion of Highland Park Way SW between SW Holden St and West Marginal Way SW, until further notice.Use the stops on Highland Park Way SW south of SW Holden St or east of West Marginal Way SW.”
Whichever route you plan to use to get home, be aware that the heavy rain has continued this afternoon, lots of water on the roads, so be patient. The WSB Traffic page has cameras for various routes, and you also can check the video feeds accessible from the lower right of the city Travelers’ Information map – browse the feeds on the West Seattle and Greater Duwamish pulldown options.
3:47 PM: We asked City Light’s Scott Thomsen for the assessment of how the slide had affected their installations along HP Way: “The slide toppled some trees. At least one went into the lines, causing the outage. We didn’t lose any poles, but some are leaning over. We plan to monitor the hillside to make sure it has stabilized before we reset the poles. We might have to install some small retaining walls to protect the poles.”
7:04 PM: SDOT just tweeted that Highland Park Way is expected to remain “closed through Thursday.” So DEFINITELY plan morning options, and we’ll track the status during the day.
Highland Park Way SW will remain closed through Thursday btw SW Holden St & W Marginal Way SW due to a landslide. Plz use alternate routes. pic.twitter.com/fhZp2ZWC6u
— seattledot (@seattledot) February 16, 2017
And the National Weather Service says this is the seventh-wettest February on record.
9:40 PM: Still closed. We checked the top of the hill again after leaving a nearby meeting about half an hour ago; no lights visible down the hill, so crews apparently had quit work for the night. We will start morning traffic coverage extra early tomorrow (5 am Thursday) because the road will still be closed.
THURSDAY MORNING: Our AM updates are here through at least 9 am.
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