Avalon, 35th SW road work: Here’s what’s happening next

3:13 PM: If you use Avalon and/or 35th SW between Alaska and Avalon, here’s what you need to know about what’s happening next as road work continues:

The key points are on the map above. Below are SDOT’s newest update with the details, as well as some Q&A:

We are excavating and rebuilding the road on the west half SW Avalon Way in Zone B! Crews are continuing to work on the west side of SW Avalon Way from SW Yancy St to SW Genesee St (Zone B).

Crews are scheduled to begin work on the west side of SW Avalon Way from SW Manning St to SW Charlestown St (Zone A) on Monday, May 20. During construction, we will maintain access to SW Orleans St. SW Manning St will be closed starting Monday through the next few weeks. Local access will be maintained to the alley.

The west side of SW Genesee St at SW Avalon Way is scheduled to be closed starting this Wednesday, May 22 through Wednesday, May 29. This will allow crews to conduct utility work and pavement reconstruction. Similar to the previous closure on the east side of the intersection, crews will need to work across multiple lanes of traffic in the intersection for a few weeks. We will continue to maintain one lane in each direction on SW Avalon Way.

Crews will begin trenching to lay new water main on the east side of 35th Ave SW from SW Avalon Way to SW Alaska St (Zone E). We will maintain one lane of traffic in each direction on 35th Ave SW between Fauntleroy Way SW and SW Alaska St through approximately November 2019. See below for more information about what to expect.

SW Alaska St is scheduled to be closed to 35th Ave SW starting Saturday, May 18 at 5 AM and could open as soon as Monday, May 20 at 6 AM. This will allow crews to conduct maintenance on the water main.

Businesses are open! Please continue to visit businesses on 35th Ave SW and SW Avalon Way during construction. Pedestrian access will be maintained at all times.

Things we’ve heard from the community

Each week, we’ll plan to address a few common questions we’ve heard from your neighbors.

When will work on 35th Ave SW be completed? Can anything be done about commuting times?

Work on 35th Ave SW (Zone E) is anticipated to continue through November 2019. Work on 35th Ave SW takes more time as we are putting a new water main underneath the road and completely rebuilding the road. Our team has been monitoring left turns at the intersection of SW Avalon Way and 35th Ave SW after hearing about delays from the community. We are checking with our traffic operations group to see if we can adjust signal timing at the northbound left turn to see if this will help eliminate delays. Thank you for your patience as we strive to complete this work safely and efficiently!

Will my driveway be impacted?

In order for us to rebuild the road, we need to completely remove the current roadway and repour it with concrete or pave it with asphalt. We will need to temporarily close driveway access in order to pour or pave and allow the materials to cure. We will provide advance notice of this work. Please notify us if you need accessibility assistance.

What do I do if I have questions about the water main work and upcoming shutoffs?

If you have any questions about water main work, if there is an issue with your water, or your water is shut off without warning, you can call Seattle Public Utilities emergency line at 206-386-1800 24/7. SPU will notify you of any project related water shut offs at least a week in advance.

The overall project, expected to be complete next summer, is repaving/reconfiguring all of Avalon Way and repaving/rebuilding 35th SW between SW Alaska and Avalon (with water-main replacement) as well as repaving a block of SW Alaska west of 35th.

4:30 PM: Metro has published reroutes for Route 50, RapidRide C Line, and Water Taxi Shuttle 773 starting early tomorrow morning because of the weekend Alaska-at-35th closure.

9 Replies to "Avalon, 35th SW road work: Here's what's happening next"

  • Chris May 17, 2019 (3:22 pm)

    It is unfortunate that the SDOT map and news release doesn’t address bus stop effects at all.

    • WSB May 17, 2019 (4:13 pm)

      There’s a silly (IMO) siloization related to all this, such as when Yancy suddenly shut down earlier this week for a few days and SDOT’s answer to my inquiry was “not our project, you’ll have to ask them.” Metro meantime was way late in adding stop closure etc. info to its alets site. That said, I just got an alert related to the Alaska closure and am adding that above …

  • zephyr May 17, 2019 (5:16 pm)

    Can someone tell me how this construction is affecting the morning bus schedule?  I don’t normally commute during Rush Hour, but in a couple of weeks I was considering using the bus for jury duty.  I would need to be traveling through there around 7’ish or so to be in downtown by 8 am.  Maybe I need to leave before 7 am.  I would be catching the bus at Myrtle Ave near the water towers.  Any suggestions or advice?  Thanks. 

    • Ice May 17, 2019 (6:49 pm)

      The construction slows down the buses a bit, but not a huge amount.The bus is still the best choice if you are going downtown. If I were In your shoes, I’d take the express bus, 21x.


      The 21x will get you downtown pretty fast, even with all of the construction. Earlier this week, I took the 21x that leaves around 7:53 from 35th and Morgan and made it to work on lower First Hill by 8:35. An hour+ is good the first time you do it, (allowing for error,) but you certainly won’t need that much time every time you do it. 45 minutes would probably give you time to spare.Super neat trick: if you miss the 21x, you can take the regular 21 down to 35th and Avalon and transfer onto the C or the 55 to get downtown quickly, almost as fast as the 21x. The construction makes this transfer a bit weird, janky and uncomfortable right now, but it is still possible.


      Don’t fall into the trap of missing your bus and then assuming that’s is faster to drive than to wait for the next bus. it’s not. I have fell into this trap too many times and wasted lots of gas and sanity and money trying to get to work quickly in my car.


      The cellphone apps OneBusAway and GoogleMaps make riding the bus way easier too, so grab those if you haven’t already.   Take OneBusAway with a grain of salt though.


      Hope this helps!

  • KT May 17, 2019 (6:31 pm)

    “Work on 35th Ave SW (Zone E) is anticipated to continue through November 2019.  Our team has been monitoring left turns at the intersection of SW Avalon Way and 35th Ave SW after hearing about delays from the community. We are checking with our traffic operations group to see if we can adjust signal timing at the northbound left turn to see if this will help eliminate delays. Thank you for your patience as we strive to complete this work safely and efficiently!”I love this.   A completely patronizing response.  “Hearing about delays from the community” – what, you can’t see the commute chaos you are creating?   I know this won’t make for a better world but if I was running for reelection to the city council I would be  getting in front of this.  SDOT, how about you stop your monitoring and checking with everyone and move the traffic.  That too is your responsibility even though we would never know it.

    • Mark H May 17, 2019 (8:06 pm)

      You’d win a council seat (and international awards) if you invented a way to rebuild a road with no impact.  I say go for it.

  • Will Storm May 17, 2019 (9:28 pm)

    Hello, Ice.  Thanks so much for the info on the 21 Bus.  That’s exactly what I needed to know.  I will be leaving extra early that first day to be sure. 

  • MadinWESTSIDE May 18, 2019 (10:14 am)

    Why are they doing 35th at the same time.?    TOTALLY DUMB !!

  • St May 18, 2019 (2:15 pm)

    Northbound 35th is backed up to the Mount. There should be no left turns allowed to Avalon from northbound 35th because someone waiting to turn left has two lanes of on coming traffic to yield to and north traffic is stuck behind the person waiting to turn. No signs when I was just there. 

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