TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Thursday AM watch, fourth post-Viaduct weekday

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

5:30 AM: Good morning! The change in the weather has arrived – but it’s not raining hard outside, just misting – so far. No incidents reported in our area.

5:55 AM: As with the previous three mornings, the bridge looks busier earlier.

6:13 AM: And even busier now. (Here’s a screengrab for the record.)

6:20 AM: Our crew, heading shortly for Water Taxi watch for the fourth day, reports it’s NOT raining right now. Warmer than recent mornings – 46 degrees.

6:40 AM: If you commute regionally and rely on WSDOT travel times – they’ve been coping with an outage but are now back, here.

6:50 AM: First report in from our crew at the West Seattle Water Taxi dock – rough couht ~70 on the boat that’s about to take off.

7:11 AM: Still nothing out of the ordinary to report. (added) Covered waiting area at Water Taxi dock still not needed, since the rain has yet to resume:

7:28 AM: By our count, about 150 on the Water Taxi that’s just taking off.

7:39 AM: Water Taxi usage is down this morning. Fewer triple-digit runs by our count; 79 on this one. Back on land watch, no train or low-bridge trouble this morning, unlike yesterday … so far.

7:58 AM: Just tweeted by BNSF, whose only tweet during yesterday’s 45+-minute blockage was to tell pedestrians to get off the tracks:

Rail traffic is moving normally in #Seattle this morning. Yesterday’s delay in SoDo was due to unusual circumstances and we regret the inconvenience during #SeattleSqueeze. We hope you’ll have a great day today! #Viadoom #Realign99

— BNSF Railway (@BNSFRailway) January 17, 2019

8:06 AM: Low bridge busy eastbound right now. Here’s a moment-in-time screengrab. No maritime openings logged so far this morning.

8:19 AM: One last Water Taxi count on our watch before our crew oves on – 77 for the 8:15-ish run. Remember that the extra service is here for two months, all the way until the 7-day-a-week schedule kicks in at the end of March, so lots of time to try it if you haven’t yet but could.

9:02 AM: Morning four of “Viadoom” hasn’t seemed very doomy. This tweet seems to corroborate:

Just want to give a shoutout, @westseattleblog from the @SeattlePD officers guiding busses in the rain to the @kcmetrobus drivers sitting in traffic, everyone has had such a positive and helpful attitude that has made #Viadoom so much more pleasant 👏🏼 #thanks

— Tessa Wuertz (@tessa_wuertz) January 17, 2019

We’re moving on to other news atop the page – so much to catch up on – but will continue to update here if any notable morning situations arise, plus we’ll be on PM watch again, with the weather projected to get wetter/breezier by then.

10:02 AM: Low bridge closed to surface traffic a few minutes ago, for the first time this morning. (Update: The closure lasted 11 minutes.)

Jim Hua January 17, 2019 (7:04 am)

Question:does anyone know if the C/55 bus from the Junction go through downtown still? I saw the C bus this morning and just wondering.

ScottAmick January 17, 2019 (7:24 am)

The C has definitely been going through downtown to SLU this week – at least from what I’ve observed.
Alissa Haslam January 17, 2019 (7:28 am)

It does. It goes down the transit road parallel to 4th and cuts through the ID to 3rd through downtown
- k January 17, 2019 (3:21 pm)
  
  it absolutely does go thru downtown to SLU/Fred Hutch/Residence inn. Once it gets onto 3rd it usually makes a couple stops south of Seneca and then picks up the regular route at 3rd & Seneca (I believe). I know it sounds crazy- but I’m petty certain that my normal (60 min) ride (from the ferry dock to the end of the line at SLU) is now 10 minutes shorter (leaving at 9am.), the way home has been quicker too, but I’ve been leaving around 630 or 7pm.

SuperAwesome January 17, 2019 (7:17 am)

With the drama on the buses the last few days I finally decided to just drive in. I left an hour earlier than I would normally, 6 AM instead of 7 AM. Alki to SODO in 11 mins.

Austin January 17, 2019 (7:38 am)

The C line that left the Junction at ~6:20 was definitely less crowded than the past 3 days. There were seats for people up until we got on the bridge. Not sure if it was just that particular bus, or if people have driven/shifted later, but it was surprisingly light. I got to the Seattle Center area by ~7am, which is pretty good even on a normal day.

Wsea January 17, 2019 (7:55 am)

I think a lot are working from home today. The rain scared a lot of staff early in the week and prescheduled their working location for today. Or, Seattle’s population dropped this week.

Olivist January 17, 2019 (7:48 am)

A couple cars took the sodo bus way this AM along with the 720 #57. No traffic police so looks like they got a free ride.

Paul January 17, 2019 (7:57 am)

I also do Alki to Sodo/Georgetown (Near Hudson’s Cafe). What buses do you take out of curiosity? I’ve been doing my normal mix of bike/car without any troubles this week.

SuperAwesome January 17, 2019 (8:17 am)

The first day I took the 37, which was rerouted (unexpectedly) from 1st to 4th . The second day I tried to take the 50 which got in an accident with the 37 before I could even get on it.Yesterday, I didn’t bus but read about the people that were stuck on buses due to the train issue.Leaving early in the car appears to be the winner so far this week.

HelperMonkey January 17, 2019 (8:09 am)

maybe with all the traffic woes, people could stop driving like jerks. Was almost taken out by a super self-important man in a maroon Tahoe this morning on Trenton and Fauntleroy who thought he was too important to use stop signs. Just pulled out full speed from Trenton onto Fauntleroy, and I had to slam on my brakes to avoid hitting him.

Tony January 17, 2019 (8:10 am)

615am-SPD with lights flashing, camped out on 4th Ave Bus ONLY offramp. Also, saw someone get pulled over for just as I was pulling into the bridge from Delridge, going east. Police seem to be ramping up pressure to play nice. Be safe, arrive alive. #ViaDOOM #ViaDONT

Sleep Mode January 17, 2019 (8:20 am)

Just FYI, I was driving north on Delridge around 6:30 ish and the sign saying to use the high level bridge was flashing. I ignored it and made it across the low bridge just fine. Not sure why the sign was flashing if there were no low bridge openings at/around that time.

WSB January 17, 2019 (8:44 am)

That’s not the first report I’ve seen of the light flashing when unwarranted.
But nothing logged for this morning still.
https://twitter.com/sdotbridges

Eddie January 17, 2019 (8:39 am)

The thought of BNSF tweeting (instead of using the train horn) to get people off the tracks makes me laugh. I know that’s not what is going on, but I once heard a tale about some sort of App that was supposed to keep bikes and cars from colliding on the Burke Gilman Trail.

newnative January 17, 2019 (8:44 am)

Managed to get on an earlier Water Taxi (7:05) and finally catch a Waterfront Shuttle, who dropped me off at 1st Ave and Broad. I have been having stress-free mornings doing this and stress-free evenings hopping on the 56/57 to go home-all of them taking Alaskan Way —>East Marginal Way and low bridge.

M January 17, 2019 (8:46 am)

Took 45 minutes to go from Admiral district to Crossroads mall in Bellevue. Not too bad! Left at 7 am.

Sam January 17, 2019 (9:32 am)

My commutes have remained smooth: WT shuttle at Alki around 6:35, WT sailing at 6:50, 5-minute wait at Alaskan-Madison for the Free Waterfront Shuttle, Seattle Center by 7:25. That waterfront shuttle is super. https://downtownseattle.org/parking/#!/shuttle

Kathy January 17, 2019 (9:43 am)

Be careful biking southbound on E. Marginal Way. I’ve heard through the West Seattle Bike Connections Google Group there have been some close calls between people on bikes and the increased bus traffic from the Metro re-routes. Metro has been contacted about this.

Seattle Sue January 17, 2019 (11:01 am)

I took the C bus to/from downtown this morning. Since I only bus everywhere, I was happily surprised to have a shorter trip than usual!

Jon Wright January 17, 2019 (12:24 pm)

When I took the bridge eastbound around 10:15, I was discouraged to see so many bus lane scofflaws. Camera enforcement can’t come soon enough!

Graciano January 17, 2019 (4:11 pm)

I can see why some commutes are not taking as long as expected… I work on 1st Ave. in the SODO area and while sitting in my car before going into work the cars are just flying by me a few of them were going so fast it shook my car like a train would have, and I don’t have a small car.SLOW DOWN dumb A$$’s speed limit is 35MPH and there’s a lot of people walking and biking in that area!!!

Sorry, comment time is over.