TRAFFIC ALERT UPDATE: 1st Avenue S. reopens just north of West Seattle Bridge after bank-robbery attempt, arrest

| Crime | West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

(SDOT image of 1st Avenue S. backup)

4:51 PM: Thanks for the tips. If you usually use 1st Avenue South to get to the West Seattle Bridge while heading home – avoid it for a while; it’s closed at S. Forest, both ways, because of police activity, and that’s led to a big backup. Listening to the scanner, we’re heading talk that it’s a robbery investigation, and someone is reported to be in custody, so this might ease soon.

4:53 PM: Just after we published that, SPD said via Twitter that it was an “attempted bank robbery” in the 2700 block of 1st Ave. S.: “Suspect remained in the bank and police responded and arrested him. Bank employees sheltered in place in a secure area of the bank.”

4:57 PM: Per scanner, 1st Avenue S. has reopened, but as you can imagine, the residual backup won’t resolve immediately at this time of day.

sw December 3, 2018 (5:58 pm)

Think of it this way – this is just a prep class for the viaduct closure.

Chuck December 3, 2018 (7:26 pm)

See your future, be your future. I have a hunch our commute (crawl) in and out of the south end of Seattle is going to look like this even AFTER the tunnel opens. No Seneca exit? All Northbound traffic has to come into downtown on surface streets. Yup. We put politicians in place to come up with that brilliant plan, and then voted for us. Shame on us, really.

Workdowntown December 3, 2018 (8:23 pm)

I commuted over 40 years to downtown. Saw this coming, moved east. Bless you all and good luck.

Wsresident December 3, 2018 (8:53 pm)

But then you have to live on the East side and spend your days reading the West Seattle Blog longing to come back. I’ll take the crawl, the traffic and the complainers and stay put exactly where I am.