THURSDAY: Port-truck backups and more @ West Seattle Transportation Coalition

| Transportation | West Seattle news

(2016 screengrab from traffic camera near port)

The ongoing issue of how, where, and when semitrucks queue up for Port of Seattle terminals is at the center of the agenda for tomorrow (Thursday) night’s West Seattle Transportation Coalition meeting. WSTC will hear from and talk with Zachary Thomas, director of the Operations Service Center for the Northwest Seaport Alliance (the Seattle/Tacoma port partnership). WSTC, which is an all-volunteer community group, also will talk about last month’s workshop looking ahead to West Seattle light-rail routing (WSB coverage here). All are welcome; the meeting’s at 6:30 pm Thursday at Neighborhood House High Point (6400 Sylvan Way SW)

ScottA July 27, 2017 (9:09 am)

As someone who bikes past the long line ups of semis on East Marginal Way in the early morning hours I’d be interested to know if Terminal 46 could just be opened to trucks earlier in the morning. It seems like they open at 6 am and then all the trucks that have parked in the middle of the road start slowly making their way into the terminal. One of the hazards of this arrangement is at East Marginal and Massachusetts Street there’s a median island that trucks have to swerve around, if the drivers aren’t really careful and slow they take a wide turn into the bike lane.

The biggest issue with the trucks staging in the middle turn lane and then spilling into the northbound traffic lane is that general vehicle traffic is often stopped for minutes until the terminal opens. If the terminal gates were opened earlier it seems there are several acres of parking available instead of being on E. Marginal.

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