TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Friday AM watch, fifth post-Viaduct weekday

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

5:30 AM: Good morning! So far the problems are NOT in our area.

5:45 AM – LOOKING AHEAD: Reminders while things are quiet – Monday is Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. School’s out, and most government offices/facilities are closed. Metro plans “reduced weekday” service.

5:48 AM: SDOT reports “Rail crossing delays at 2nd Ave and S Spokane St, blocking all EB and WB lanes.” (This is the first such alert we’ve seen – following the Wednesday train trouble.)

6:11 AM: Monitoring police radio, there are various train-related problems including a track-crossing arm STUCK DOWN ON WESTBOUND SIDE of Spokane St. around 2nd. Needs repair. That won’t be soon. Also word of a train on tracks at 6th/Spokane. Overall, just avoid surface Spokane for now!

6:20 AM: Arm problem may be fixed but train traffic hasn’t passed. … Our crew is off to the Water Taxi dock to see how things are going there this Friday morning. Weather-wise, a lot like Thursday so far.

6:40 AM: Bridge is busy as has been the case every day this first post-Viaduct week. (Here’s the point-in-time screengrab.)

6:46 AM: Train traffic on lower Spokane has cleared again.

6:55 AM: And … another train. … At the Water Taxi dock, they tell us it’s been a “light morning,” at least compared to earlier in the week. 75 passengers on the most-recent sailing.

7:10 AM: 59 on the sailing after that. And YET MORE trouble on lower Spokane, this time at 11th/Spokane just off the low bridge a crash – we took this from the city webcam:

(Fully blocking there, as of a few minutes later.)

7:20 AM: We have clarified with King County – there IS Water Taxi service (West Seattle AND Vashon) on Monday even though King Day would otherwise be a holiday.

7:35 AM: The crash east of the low bridge is still blocking. … Water Taxi volume’s up a bit – 110 is the latest sailing’s count.

Again, there IS WT service on Monday.

7:50 AM: Still working to clear the crash east of the low bridge. SDOT’s Incident Response Team is there. Screengrab:

7:55 AM: SDOT tweets that “the westbound lane and one eastbound lane” have reopened there.

8:28 AM: Busy but no new problems. Later this morning, we’ll get a #Realign99 construction update in the south work zone. Also looking ahead – if you’re heading off-peninsula tomorrow, note that this year’s Womxn’s March will be happening (details in this city roundup).

8:55 AM: No new problems. We’re continuing to monitor and will update here if anything new does transpire before 10 am.

Leelee January 18, 2019 (6:44 am)

How is the low bridge?

WSB January 18, 2019 (6:52 am)

No problems aside from the busy morning on the train tracks once you get past East Marginal. If you’re turning onto East Marginal (or Harbor Island) you should be OK. No maritime openings so far.

Matthew January 18, 2019 (7:10 am)

Accident on Spokane street on harbor island. Looks bad and emergency vehicles will be there shortly.

WSB January 18, 2019 (7:15 am)

Got that! Thank you! Not major injuries reported so far. But lower Spokane has just been the trouble magnet all morning,
- Ernie January 18, 2019 (7:46 am)
  
  Just passed by this wreck, eastbound traffic is being routed around it on the road right in front of the marina, couldn’t tell what westbound was doing, but they should be able to stay right and then take the u-turn route to get back on the low bridge. Quote a mess, aid car was still at the scene.
  - WSB January 18, 2019 (7:49 am)
    
    Luckily there’s a really clear SDOT webcam on this one. SFD has cleared, SDOT’s Incident Response Team is there now.

newnative January 18, 2019 (7:21 am)

I almost opted for the bus today. After reading about the train troubles i kept with the water taxi (7:25) and i am glad i did.

brian January 18, 2019 (7:24 am)

Train tracks @ Lander (between 1st & 3rd Aves), track-crossing arm on STUCK DOWN ON EAST SIDE of tracks. This was stuck yesterday late afternoon as well.

Austin January 18, 2019 (7:48 am)

I had another good commute on the ~6:20AM C Line, with no delays and an easy transfer to get over to lower Queen Anne. Under an hour door-to-door. Nothing Doomy about this week for me, despite having to get up earlier than before the closure.

Ajs January 18, 2019 (7:56 am)

Comen back from down town on the c line the past few days at 4pm. It takes a different way every day and it takes an hour to get to west Seattle.

TiredFriday January 18, 2019 (8:03 am)

As of 6:15ish this morning, the buses had found my E Marginal Way back route. That was disappointing, especially considering they have brand new, bus-only lanes elsewhere.

Walnut January 18, 2019 (8:10 am)

Tried to use Ride2 Transit to get to the Water Taxi this morning. Waited 20 minutes but the screen never progressed from “assigned ” to “on the way”. Ended up cancelling the trip and taking the bus. Anybody else having this issue with Ride2Transit? Who do you call to report these issues?

LKHighpoint January 18, 2019 (8:55 am)

The app has had various issues throughout the week. There is a dispatch number 855-233-1880, but I don’t know that it makes things faster per se. A few things I have learned from riding it for the last 2 weeks: a) Budget 15-30 minutes to get from your house to Seacrest; between the hours of 7-8 am, budget 30-45 due to the volume of riders. 20 minutes is not enough time. b) If you are in a hurry, drive to the free park and ride for the water taxi on Harbor Ave. They will shuttle you to Seacrest from there, and this is reportedly much faster. c) Cancel your journey if you decide to use Plan B (thanks Walnut!). Otherwise they will be looking for you, and that delays pick up for other riders. Hope that helps!
- WSB January 18, 2019 (8:59 am)
  
  Thank you to LK and everyone who has shared advice all week. Re: the free Pier 2 park-and-ride, STILL TONS OF ROOM. If you didn’t use it this week but could … maybe give it a try next week. – TR
  - Ellen Hagen January 18, 2019 (10:31 am)
    
    That free park and ride across from the 7-11 is great! The shuttle has always been there when I park and when I get off Water Taxi it’s waiting for you. It usually leaves immediately after we get on so you’re not waiting around! From the minute we pull into the parking lot to the drop off at the pier, it’s MAYBE 5-10 minutes! Feels great knowing that someone is manning the lot all day as well! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

Bus rider of C January 18, 2019 (9:05 am)

I have submitted two comments to metro asking then to add a stop between pioneer and university but still no change. There is a “rapid ride” stop south of seneca that they are not using. Metro please add this to the C line into downtown!

Gary January 18, 2019 (9:49 am)

Rosie the C line this Am. Left 35th/Avalon at 8:25 am. Got to 3rd and Yesler stop at 8:45am. Fastest ride I’ve ever had on the C. They must have listened to you and added that stop!
- CAM January 18, 2019 (10:15 am)
  
  True, Gary. What I’ve found is that they haven’t added the Yesler stop (and it’s actually on Prefontaine Place despite what Metro is calling it) to the marquee but if you pull the cord after the turn onto 4th the driver stops. I believe Bus Rider was referring to the Madison stop which is in fact on the marquee and was always a planned stop, so if the driver is skipping it that’s a problem.
CAM January 18, 2019 (9:49 am)

They are supposed to be stopping at Madison…

98126res January 18, 2019 (9:10 am)

Put myself in their shoes esp on an early am commute, sad for anyone involved in a traffic accident, so pray all are okay at this morning’s accident on Spokane street on harbor island. In the 2 photos of the scene, does anyone know if the one little vintage brown car along the curb is a VW fastback? The photo appears as if the car has little or no back end. I owned a fastback back in the day, and the back end curved down away. Thanks.

miws January 18, 2019 (10:22 am)

98126Res, I don’t believe that is a Fastback, the passenger compartment looks too small. It looks to me like it may be a pickup truck with a very-well-tucked-in tarp or other type of cover over the bed. —Mike
- 98126res January 20, 2019 (4:09 pm)
  
  Hi Mike, I think you are correct about the passenger compartment, thank you for replying. I don’t know much about cars like my husband, but the snout and shape reminded me a lot of my old fastback. At any rate, fastbacks et al were not equipped with armour-like protection of today’s suv’s and trucks, so I pray the driver and any passengers were ok.

Curious January 18, 2019 (9:30 am)

Does anyone from the south end take the water taxi? How would one get there from White Center? Is there a shuttle from here to the water taxi or would you have to take a bus to get to the shuttle? Does it still end up being faster than taking the 120? Or should you just stick to road options if you’re not already near the dock or the WT shuttle?

KBear January 18, 2019 (9:47 am)

With the time it takes to load, sail, dock, and unload, the water taxi can add significant time if your commute is already long. Plus it doesn’t run as frequently as most buses, so if you miss it, you’re out of luck. So it’s probably not a great option if you’re coming from White Center.
- WSB January 18, 2019 (10:09 am)
  
  During the closure, it’s running frequently. And staying on time in our observation. The doubled schedule will remain in effect through the end of March, in fact.
Maggie January 18, 2019 (10:35 am)

Hello, I live on the south end of Highland Park, 2 blocks from Roxbury, and normally take the 113 to work. When I saw the Metro alert about the train situation this morning, I decided to Uber to the water taxi dock instead of risking the bus. The Uber pool took nearly half an hour (would normally be around a 12 minute drive) and I barely made the 6:50 sailing. Also, Uber didn’t apply the COMMUTESMART promo so I had to waste time arguing with them. And between the Uber and boat fares, it cost me $12 to get to work! Definitely not sustainable for regular commuting. I am going to stick with the bus unless there’s some kind of incident (and in that case, I’ll convince my husband to drive me to the water taxi). We share a car so leaving it parked all day in the lot is not feasible. Wish there was a better option, because I do think the predictability of the water taxi is very appealing!
newnative January 18, 2019 (10:55 am)

I have a coworker that lives around WestWood and she is just out of range for the Ride2 app and/or any shuttle that would get her to the Water Taxi for a quick ride. She states that her bus times have been good, considering she is leaving the house earlier.

Lola January 18, 2019 (9:59 am)

7:00 am from 50th & Alaska took the WS bridge got to Costco Gas at 7:15. I work in Geo-Town so to work at 7:30. Great commute. I saw the line of traffic going the other way on 4th from 4th and Lucile it was backed up across the 4th ave Bridge going North into town. It did not look pretty.

CAM January 18, 2019 (10:11 am)

I think the Womxn’s March is still going all the way from Cal Anderson to Seattle Center. The only part changing is the rally will end earlier so the march starts earlier/ends earlier.

Zoé Freeman January 18, 2019 (4:22 pm)

Thank you for your hard work on behalf of West Seattle community!

Ben January 18, 2019 (4:54 pm)

Thanks for updates, etc. WSB!Do you know which news station continually has to hover a helicopter over residents of West Seattle homes to broadcast traffic shots? It is very noisy and annoying! Seems to me, to be big waste of resources too considering how many traffic cameras already show same information albeit silently…

Sorry, comment time is over.