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PM COMMUTE: First post-Viaduct afternoon/evening

January 14, 2019 3:36 pm
|      46 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

(SEE OUR MORNING COVERAGE HERE)

(SDOT MAP with travel times / WS-relevant traffic cams / Water Taxi schedule, other helpful info HERE)

3:30 PM: Good afternoon! We’re back to watch the journey home. For starters, Dale sends word that the 4000 block of SW Oregon should be avoided – police are there handling a crash.

3:57 PM: All clear. Incident Response Team truck was just leaving.

4:17 PM: From SDOT: “We’re seeing light traffic on major roads downtown, but traffic is picking up on Mercer St EB, I-5 SB into downtown, and on the West Seattle Bridge EB toward I-5.”

4:35 PM: If you’re choosing your route home, 1st Avenue on the south side of downtown looks good, per updates from a texter.

5:20 PM: As pointed out in comments, the TV helicopters are back over the bridge … South of downtown, a crash is reported at 1st and Holgate. On the northbound side, but still – FYI.

5:31 PM: The Water Taxi sends an official announcement of the adjustment reported earlier in a comment by SeattleNewbie: “During this first evening commute of #Realign99, crews are testing a new boarding procedure at Pier 52. Riders can pretap ORCA cards to prepay in order to expedite boarding during this period of high demand.” … Meantime, our Amazon-bus commuter tipster says it was a half-hour ride home just now, southbound I-5 to the West Seattle Bridge.

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46 Replies to "PM COMMUTE: First post-Viaduct afternoon/evening"

  • SeattleNewbie January 14, 2019 (3:40 pm)

    Looks like lessons have been learned already. This morning I was not able to board the 6:30 taxi because boarding ended one minute prior to departure. The bottleneck was scanning cards and collecting fares ON the boat. This afternoon scanning and such occurred up by the ticket kiosks which meant that everyone in line got on. So MUCH better.

    • WSB January 14, 2019 (4:14 pm)

      Thanks for the update! We’re not able to be at the dock for the pm commute but appreciate updates from people who are boating home.

  • Bus rider January 14, 2019 (4:14 pm)

    Bottleneck starting at KC Courthouse through Safeco Field on Metro reroute.

  • BB January 14, 2019 (4:38 pm)

    On the C bus now and the transition down Columbia Way to the waterfront by the Ferry terminal seems a really bad decision.  It is a real bottleneck…slow going. 

    • Kathleen January 14, 2019 (5:31 pm)

      Just went through that spot on the C Line (around 5:25 pm) and it was fine. There was a police officer directing traffic at the light at Alaskan Way and Columbia, which may have been an addition since you were there. A couple of lights after that and now we’re sailing along Alaskan Way. Headed for the low bridge now. Still sailing along at the posted speed limit. Can’t complain.

      • BB January 14, 2019 (6:07 pm)

        Kathleen,No there wasn’t an officer and it took three light cycles to get through.  I’m glad to hear they are responding quickly!BB

  • PPWS January 14, 2019 (4:43 pm)

    Okay. I’m home now and can hear what people were talking about in terms of the helicopters. They’re so loud I can’t even hear the TV in my house. Wow. 

  • WS annoyed January 14, 2019 (4:55 pm)

    And the chopper is putting out fumes over West Seattle again to monitor traffic.  Time for more calls to news desk and FAA.They can fly over the stadiums and SODO to monitor traffic, WHY fly over neighborhoods…. Safety, noise pollution, general respect for your viewers/neighbors, etc….

    • Josh January 14, 2019 (5:38 pm)

      Are they REALLY putting out fumes? ugh 

  • Clover January 14, 2019 (5:06 pm)

    Any word on the Ride2 app issues reported this morning?

  • Ajs January 14, 2019 (5:36 pm)

    C line after 4pm from down town takes at least 1/2 an hour to an hour more right now.  It seems to take a different  route daily…

  • miws January 14, 2019 (5:44 pm)

    In the news chopper hover zone and have a digital TV antenna? Tell the station that you can’t watch their broadcast because the chopper is messing with their over-the-air signal. (Likely true, I would guess). —Mike

  • KJS January 14, 2019 (5:45 pm)

    I caught the 55 at 3rd & Seneca and thought the first stop in West Seattle would be 35th & Avalon after the reroute down across the lower bridge. Our driver took the Admiral Way exit instead of Avalon and his first stop was on California & Admiral. He turned around at Seattle St. and is heading towards the Alaska Junction. Did I miss something about the 55 being completely rerouted to do a backwards route with the viaduct closure, or is my driver just confused?

    • AMD January 14, 2019 (11:36 pm)

      The 120 passed the exit to Delridge, got off at Avalon, then turned down Genessee (that’s right…  articulated bus FULL of people going down THAT hill) to get back on Delridge.  I think our driver was also confused.  Forty-fine minutes total to get home, about 10 minutes longer than normal for that time of day.  No terrible.  I felt REALLY bad for all of the UPS drivers lined up on Alaskan Way trying to get back to their base with all the Next-Day Air packages they picked up today.  No one thinks about how the viaduct facilitated package delivery for all those decades…

      • KJS January 15, 2019 (7:00 am)

        Yikes, an articulated bus turning to go down Genesee?! It’s a miracle you guys didn’t get stuck! 😮

  • Deb January 14, 2019 (5:46 pm)

    The outbound C-line has a new driver so there is another driver guiding him. From 3rd Ave we went west on Columbia down to Alaskan way and joined the queue of southbound buses to the low bridge. Fortunately, it was closed to ship traffic although the harbor island  and T5 lights light needs to be synced to buses. At least during PM commutes. 

  • sekai rider January 14, 2019 (5:51 pm)

    6:35am C Line ride from Alaska junction to 3rd & pine:   only hold-up was some wait time to get out of Avalon traffic and jump on the bus lane to the bridge.  4th ave, 5th ave. bus street, and 3rd ave – all good.  The Bridge and Spokane street bus lanes and exits were all clear.   saw some traffic officers directing around 4th and 3rd ave.  Very helpful. 4:40pm C Line ride from DT to west seattle – no bottlenecks as mentioned by other writers.  The Alaska waterfront street was fast,. Low bridge was all clear. That was my experience. 

  • Anu January 14, 2019 (5:55 pm)

    I took the 5.25 ferry from downtown and then tried to book a pickup on Ride2. No luck. But two of their  vehicles were waiting outside the dock behind the green shuttles. The Ride2 driver was kind and gave me and another passenger a ride even though we couldn’t book anything through the app. This will make it hard to get picked up in the morning for sure if the app issues are not fixed.

  • CB January 14, 2019 (5:56 pm)

    Water taxi commute home.  Fresh air, 20 mins of this. 

    • HS January 14, 2019 (9:42 pm)

      Well that’s just lovely :)

    • Glenda January 14, 2019 (9:51 pm)

      Make sure you submit a comment and photo on your Thursday water taxi commute when it’s pouring rain. 😈

      • Lynn January 15, 2019 (1:16 am)

        Way to dump on someone’s parade. Get a life pls. 

      • PNWMelissa January 15, 2019 (1:18 am)

        Who peed in your Cheerios, Glenda??

  • Mj January 14, 2019 (5:58 pm)

    From what I saw via bike was that SB busses could traverse directly south from near the Ferry to connect to East Marginal Way and the low level bridge.  This route looks much better than using first.

  • JWinWS January 14, 2019 (6:00 pm)

    Left SLU Fred Hutch at 5:24 on C line and got to Avalon at 6:00. Took regular route until Columbia then headed to Alaska Way and then 1st ave. Hardly any traffic. I’m certain it won’t stay this way but I’ll take it while I can get it!

  • newnative January 14, 2019 (6:01 pm)

    We’re on East Marginal Way. So far, so good. Not going to identify the WS-bound bus in case it’s “rogue” but no traffic. Taking the low bridge it seems. 

  • Cbj January 14, 2019 (6:01 pm)

    Wsannoying, you are annoying, chill, it’s not all about you, this is a unique situation and day one,

  • John January 14, 2019 (6:05 pm)

    Happy to see so many new riders on the the Water Taxi (Viadoom Day 1), on the 6:15 Seacest Park to Pier 52 commute! And thank you for adding the all day service!! IMO, The Water Taxi remains the best way to commute from West Seattle.Here’s to the Water Taxi team: Dock to dock – you rock! Pun intended.

    • Alison January 14, 2019 (7:25 pm)

      Agreed. The water taxi crew are awesome. And the ride provides a peaceful 10 minutes in a hectic day. 

  • MT January 14, 2019 (6:58 pm)

    My plan was to use the Ride2 app for trans between my house and the Water Taxi, but like others reported, I couldn’t get the app to work this AM. I ended up driving to the Park & Ride and took the free shuttle to the Water Taxi. Worked great. Lots of room at the Park & Ride lot and the shuttle was very quick. 

    • Gary January 15, 2019 (12:15 pm)

      Where is the Park and Ride for the WT shuttle?

      • WSB January 15, 2019 (12:19 pm)

        The temporary parking lot for the Water Taxi, which as we heard at the dock again this morning and again on the conference call just concluded is underutilized so far, is at Pier 2. Enter off Harbor at Florida, across from the Harbor Avenue 7-11.

        • Gary January 15, 2019 (1:36 pm)

          Thanks.

  • Happy Trails January 14, 2019 (7:00 pm)

    I was quite surprised to see I was #1196 to cross the lower WS bridge on the bike counter going westbound at 5:00pm tonight! Last couple of weeks I have been between #500 to #625 rider to cross at 5:30pm.  Today was beautiful biking weather. It will be interesting to see if these counts stay up!

  • Beth January 14, 2019 (7:02 pm)

    Pretty uneventful in the 21 both out and back to West Seattle. So many single drivers this morning! I anticipate this getting worse as the weeks progress.Pack your patience, battery backup, a power bar & water. And by all means, pee before boarding. 🙂

  • 129rider January 14, 2019 (7:31 pm)

    Caught the 553am at sw brandon, easy in all the way to 3rd seneca.  44 mins in, old travel time 30 mins.  Left 3rd seneca home via alaskan way. long wait at Alaskan way and Columbia, and then crawled behind truck traffic all alaskan way, maybe 20mph all the way to delridge.  56 min trip, old travel time 30 mins. I think metro should let us use busway for SB trips as well. So obvious.

  • David January 14, 2019 (7:48 pm)

    6:12 21X from 3rd and Seneca left on time and I arrived at 35th Myrtle at 6:35 which is close to normal (maybe even a few minutes better than normal). Our driver went W on Columbia, S on 2nd, S on 4th, W on Edgar Martinez way, S on 1st to West Seattle Bridge and then continued as normal. Light timing on 1st and 4th worked very well. I only remember a single red light going south the whole trip. One more red waiting to turn left form Edgar Martinez Way to 1st.Bus was  more crowded than normal, but a lot of people got off at 35th and Avalon. I assume that means either the C or 55 was running behind.

  • miws January 14, 2019 (8:09 pm)

    Notice from Metro regarding the issues with the Ride2 App:https://kingcountymetro.blog/2019/01/14/service-disruption-for-ride2-west-seattle/?preview=true&_thumbnail_id=10764

    • Andrew J Noble January 14, 2019 (8:41 pm)

      Is Ride2 more like a shuttle or an Uber? It’s not clear to me at all

  • Andrew Noble January 14, 2019 (8:26 pm)

    Somebody please explain ride2 to me. Does it work like a shuttle, or does it work like an Uber that comes to you?

  • anobes January 14, 2019 (9:09 pm)

    Does Ride2 work like a shuttle or an Uber? Do I meet at a designated pick-up location or does it come to me? Confusing…

  • HS January 14, 2019 (9:44 pm)

    Well, I was working in WS today and I have to say it was great seeing so many people waking around and new faces, feverenty working on their computers, at the cafes :)

  • Chris January 15, 2019 (7:49 am)

    The 55 route you describe actually sounds like the 54 route. Maybe they’ve adopted it for the evening commute? Which would be really painful for anyone used to stopping in California Ave between the admiral and ws junction. 

  • Gary January 15, 2019 (12:19 pm)

    Does anyone know if the pre-Viaduct southbound busses (such as C, 57, 21X) stop anywhere on Alaskan Way (or 1st Ave?). Or do they drive straight thru to the low bridge?

Sorry, comment time is over.