‘Sesame Street’ at Lincoln Park: Setup day & traffic updates

1:25 PM: The trucks in our photo are part of the crew that’s at Lincoln Park setting up for tomorrow’s “Sesame Street” 50th-anniversary event, expected to draw 4,000 people (who had to register in advance) over the course of the day. Inside the park, the baseball field south of the wading pool/play area is the hub of activity:

Here’s the newest update on likely afternoon traffic effects: Washington State Ferries had been told last night that the trucks on Fauntleroy Way would clear out for the afternoon no-parking period (2-7 pm) after all. But then, WSF spokesperson Hadley Rodero told WSB this afternoon, the production company instead said they were trying to hire off-duty police to direct traffic around the trucks this afternoon instead. We’ll be checking back at the scene after 2 pm. (added) Here’s the live traffic cam:

Also note if you’re driving to the park, the staging has also taken over some of the spaces toward the north end of the north lot.

2:59 PM: The camera shows the trucks have since moved out of the staging lane. Heading down the hill to see if anything else remains aside from standard Friday afternoon traffic.

3:40 PM: Verified that nothing remains in the queueing lane. (Saw a private car getting towed, though, with an SPD Parking Enforcement officer right behind.) Just the “usual” Friday afternoon ferry backup, almost to the north edge of Lincoln Park as of about 15 minutes ago.

23 Replies to "'Sesame Street' at Lincoln Park: Setup day & traffic updates"

  • BT July 26, 2019 (1:40 pm)

    Traffic is horrible and it’s only 1:40. Screw you HBO and whomever approved this at the city. 

    • Zmmr July 26, 2019 (2:46 pm)

      It is job creation.Just suck it up!!

      • Anthony July 26, 2019 (4:57 pm)

        You are a fool–minor job creation shouldn’t delay hundreds of commuters from reaching home.

        • Tsurly July 26, 2019 (7:04 pm)

          Hundreds of commuters that choose to love on and island or the other side of Puget Sound. Self made problem.

        • Ice July 26, 2019 (11:03 pm)

          If you are in a car by yourself, you are the single largest contributor to traffic.

    • Glenda July 26, 2019 (2:55 pm)

      Lol! Actually hating on Sesame Street and an event we had MONTHS of warning about!  :-D There really is nothing we won’t complain about on this blog!  

  • Homeward Bound July 26, 2019 (2:09 pm)

    This is a nightmare. Bumper to bumper. No movement southbound. 30 minutes and counting…got stuck trying to get from Thriftway to Arbor Heights.

  • Matt July 26, 2019 (2:28 pm)

    228 and it’s an absolute nightmare couldnt find a worse spot to set up this event 

  • Scott July 26, 2019 (2:34 pm)

  • Betsy July 26, 2019 (2:36 pm)

    Wowi have sitting or barely moving along Lincoln Park for 30 minutes and am not yet at South parking lotsaw 2 SPD cars, one officer and no traffic directiona messwho ever approved this event at this site does not understand Ferry traffic issues let alone neighborhood challengesthanks

  • WSB July 26, 2019 (3:05 pm)

    The trucks are no longer parked in the queueing lane; I’m headed down the hill to see if anything else remains on Fauntleroy or if it’s just back to the “normal” Friday backup. – TR

  • Under_Achiever July 26, 2019 (3:54 pm)

    ..and I though I was old and intolerant.  Huh — who knew?  Excuse me, there’s kids skateboarding on my sidewalk and I gotta go yell at ’em for making noise and having fun.

  • Lola July 26, 2019 (4:31 pm)

    I made a note on my Pop up calendar at work to AVOID LINCOLN PARK ON JULY 26TH, 27TH, & 28TH.  I knew it would be a cluster.  Thank you WS Blog for alerting us to this early. 

  • Jill July 26, 2019 (5:31 pm)

    There are two trucks that look exactly like those parked on Trenton near the Westwood post office entrance.   Not sure if they are overflow trucking or if it’s the two trucks from Fauntleroy and they have since moved.   ??  

  • TJ July 26, 2019 (6:51 pm)

    Welcome to the new Seattle, where complaining is the norm. You name it and people are going to cry about it. It seems like a cool event, but with Seattle becoming more of a childless city (you know, people having dogs instead of kids, and treating them as such), Sesame Street doesn’t mean anything. See, I just realized I complained now.

  • dhg July 26, 2019 (7:19 pm)

    Police should’ve ticketed and towed those trucks at 3pm.  Saying that officers will be hired to direct traffic around the trucks is a joke.  There is no “around”, there is only ferry traffic blocking ALL traffic.

    • WSB July 26, 2019 (7:34 pm)

      They were gone at 3.

  • Scrappy July 26, 2019 (7:56 pm)

    Just for the record…SDOT issued them a permit to park in the ferry line for 72hrs. Put blame where credit is due…on the individual, entity, that allowed this in the first place! Someone was ‘asleep at the wheel.’

    • WSB July 26, 2019 (8:33 pm)

      Events like this go through the city Special Events Office, which has a multi-department meeting every month reviewing the plan for events months in advance. What didn’t happen here per WSF is consultation with them. I wonder if the fact the location was TBA “somewhere in Seattle” when this was originally announced in April (as mentioned in our previous story) complicated matters. I can’t think of anything like this being scheduled for Lincoln Park before – lots of events, sure, but generally not something for thousands. Anyway, again, the trucks were gone for the PM commute. Now that ferry traffic has eased for the night, don’t know if they’re back, but we’ll be checking after our current assignment is over…

    • just wondering July 27, 2019 (7:48 am)

      How much did the permit cost?

  • sam-c July 27, 2019 (6:27 am)

    At least it didn’t coincide with the Vashon Island strawberry festival!

  • Chris July 27, 2019 (2:27 pm)

    We stayed at the Sesame Street thing for a few minutes. Disneyland lines for basically an outdoor version of the Children’s Museum. It is obvious that HBO runs the show now and not PBS. My kids honestly had more fun at the playground and the waiting pool.

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