(SDOT MAP with travel times/ Is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE/ West Seattle-relevant traffic cams HERE)
7:02 AM: Good morning!
35TH/AVALON: The intersection is open again, as of last night.
BUS REROUTES: Today brings the start of the south-downtown SB reroutes.
56 bus leaving 61st and Alki at 8:12 am is full and we’ve stopped picking up passengers right before the stop at 39th. Wondering if another bus didn’t show before then.
That’s odd because the #56 leaving California and Admiral around 7:25am was full and we passed one person on Olga. I didn’t get any metro alerts that a bus was cancelled.
The 6am 56 didn’t run today. Thankfully, an not so full 57 came through 22 minutes later.I contacted KCM and they said they’d look into it and let their operations team know. Not sure where that will go, but you can contact them here: https://kingcounty.gov/depts/transportation/metro/contact-us.aspx
Similarly the 8:23 21 local didn’t show and the express at that time was nearly 20 min late. Metro driver issues?
Today is the new calendar for Metro – don’t the drivers get their new routes too?
Current schedules are good through 9/20/2019
https://kingcounty.gov/depts/transportation/metro/schedules-maps/maps/route.aspx
so I believe that indicates the fall “service change” is 9/21.
Hmmm, must have been the announcement for the re-routes, not the full service change. Thanks for the clarification.
And then there’ll be more reroutes on Thursday (NB) with the Dearborn demolition …
Does anyone hate the new routes through 2nd ave and SoDo? It takes way longer. 1st ave was working just fine after the construction cleared up. Metros response was too late and now they are messing up our commutes again.
I’m interested in observations/questions – especially because tomorrow we’re likely to see some of the key players at a media briefing about the upcoming Dearborn Viaduct section demolition – emails welcome as well as comments (westseattleblog@gmail.com)
Today’s commute home was awful but the worst part was Avalon Way. The reroute wasn’t great, didn’t seem to improve anything, but the Avalon part is brutal. About an hour from 3rd and Seneca to the Junction.
So. many. traffic lights. And none of them are synced. We waited to turn left, we waited to turn right, we waited to go straight. Luckily my bus didn’t get stopped by a train. Was it better than peak summer during the worst commutes? Absolutely, but now it’s fall, and we’ve made the route worse for everyone else not commuting during peak times. We needed this reroute during the summer with all the events in pioneer square. The best solution would be a temporary bus lane to 99 during the afternoon commute. Or at least why can’t the buses use 99 when it’s not 3pm-7pm M-F? As of now, we’ve surrendered 99 to cars, with the transit users to all get the scenic route through sodo.
I completely agree. Things magically cleared up on 1st Ave seemingly overnight and although the stop on 1st was inconvenient to get to it was pretty much smooth sailing all the way to WS. I caught the C from the new stop and like other commenters predicted already, we got stopped because of a train. Fortunately it was only a few minutes, but what happens when it’s 15-20+ min? I already have a commute that takes me a long time to get home, I don’t want it lengthened even further by trains and other unnecessary obstructions. I love working downtown but it’s getting ridiculous.
For 56/57 the reroute is d-u-m, dumb. Especially for the last two runs, which rarely had traffic on 1st Ave. The first time we went 2nd to 4th, we hit heavy stadium traffic and then train back ups (we sat at a light for at least 4 cycles). Last night, what should have been a very fast trip was slow going down 4th. No train that I know of, but stop and go traffic.
Observation: I’ve been waiting at the 2nd & Washington S stop for 25 mins. So far I’ve seen 3 or 4 buses that used to stop at 1st & Railroad. None of them were my route, the 21X. I think only some of the drivers were informed of the new route, so those of us who actually read the reroute plan got screwed.
Anyone know what was going on during tonight’s commute at the 509 exit to Myers Way/Olsen Place? It was backed up all the way to the start of the exit lane. 509 itself was slow south of there but nothing on the DOT website. Were there maybe a lot of people detouring to avoid the Avalon situation?
Avalon reopened last night so not that. What time? There’s a brush fire call on the 911 log at 2nd/W. Marginal just before 7 pm.
Is there any information on when the new pedestrian overpass at the WSF terminal will be opening that goes from terminal over alaskan way and reconnects with Marion? They tore down the old existing pedestrian bridge last week when gearing up to demolish that last section of double decker viaduct that was left. This leaves all us West Seattle water taxi riders and WSF walk on passengers to navigate now through columbia st construction zone and very very poorly timed lights to cross all the streets heading up the hill towards I5. It feels overall pretty unsafe, I guess that’s why they now have multiple traffic cops at all these intersections from ferries up towards I5.
Sorry, comment time is over.
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