(Photo by Long Bach Nguyen)

Again this morning, the second weekday of the #Realign99 three-week Highway 99 closure for the viaduct-to-tunnel transition, multiple transportation agencies had reps available for reporter questions on a conference call. Here are the toplines:

CONSTRUCTION PROGRESS: WSDOT’s Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Program deputy administrator Dave Sowers said, as he did yesterday, that work is “overall progressing very well.” The main reason for shutting this entire stretch of Highway 99, you’ll recall, is to do work tying the tunnel’s on- and off-ramps to the rest of the highway. One key point of interest for West Seattleites is the Dearborn offramp from 99 – which will become the key pathway into downtown for northbound traffic not using the tunnel – which is going to take a bit of time beyond the three-week “realignment closure.” Sowers said today that the projection remains “a week to 10 days” beyond the tunnel opening. Among other components of that part of the project, they have to pour concrete and give it two weeks to cure, then stripe it, he explained. He said they might have an estimate by the end of next week, adding “I can’t tell this group enough how motivated we are to get that ramp open as soon as possible.”

TRAFFIC WATCH: WSDOT and SDOT both said traffic patterns were similar to Monday (earlier than usual). We asked about West Seattle Bridge volume stats; that information might be available by day’s end.

TRANSIT WATCH: Total Water Taxi count for Monday (both directions) was 2,872, compared to 779 on the same day last year. This morning’s West Seattle count was 1,200 riders, up from 334 on the same date last year but down a bit from Monday. Still plenty of capacity, stressed Metro’s Jeff Switzer – same with the Pier 2 parking lot, which is only filling about a fifth of its 250 spaces so far. Switzer also had updated Metro bus stats: For all of yesterday they used “standby” coaches for 55 trips, handling 1,500 passengers, mostly for the C Line, E Line, and Route 120. This morning they used standby buses for 19 trips. One word of caution from Switzer: Metro volume usually peaks at midweek so don’t let any low-volume trip today fool you!