What an improvement with this new NB99 bus lane!! Bus now has to sit in back-up on admiral way and then on the NB 99 on ramp to get to a new bus lane that is barely 1mile in length. Well done SDOT. You got us a bus lane that noone asked for and that doesn’t improve bus travel times. Really nailed this one. Every single person in a whether car or bus should send complaints to SDOT, Metro, WSDOT, Herbold.
Another day of suffering thanks to the charlatan at SDOT Zimbabwe. I wonder if the explanation is that he’s related to someone in the city council or something. I’d rather have to deal with nepotism than blatant hiring blunders being made due to sheer incompetence.
I understand the frustration here. It is tough when the Head Person (SEA DOT) continues trying to put a square peg in a round hole. It is obvious to all concerned that this Bus Lane is not working.I think all of us have seen the incredible stubbornness of”those at the top” at one time, or another.
This is horrible, I think we all agree. I would like us all to inform DOT and MAYBE something can happen. The City Council is laughable, but I think we should at least copy Herbold. So, does anyone have contact information for whoever we need to contact? I think it is important to write an email, copying all. Do I write SDOT, WDOT, Metro, and Herbold? It would be nice to have uniformity. Has anyone bitched about it in writing and if so can you please share email addresses of who the complaints went to? Thank you very much!
I wrote to Sam Zimbabwe, Jenny Durkan and Lisa Herbold early last week. I didn’t here back from Mr Zimbabwe or Ms. Durkan, but Lisa Herbold did respond and she copied Mr Zimbabwe on her email, also asking that he reply back to us..but he never did. Here’s an excerpt from a follow up email from Lisa on Friday:
“I have received numerous e-mails from constituents about traffic backups on SR99, the West Seattle Bridge, and arterials in West Seattle that started after the re-installation of a northbound bus lane on SR99 between the West Seattle Bridge and the Downtown exit at Dearborn, and the disruption this has had on their commutes and their lives. SDOT is seeking WSDOT’s approval to make adjustments to extend the merge 1,000 feet in order to minimize the backup.Earlier today I sent a letter to SDOT Director Zimbabwe linked here: https://herbold.seattle.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Letter-to-Zimbabwe-re-SR99.pdf.”
Sam Zimbabwe is the director at SDOT (sam.zimbabwe@seattle.gov). I emailed Lisa Herbold about this originally and forwarded my comments, along with a summary of other comments regarding the change, to Sam Zimbabwe. Her understanding was that SDOT installed the bus lane at the request of King County Metro. She asked that he reply to my email – that was on Sept. 26 – and I haven’t heard anything yet from him. Councilperson Herbold has responded again since then with updates, at least.Keep emailing sam.zimbabwe@seattle.gov – I doubt he will respond to anyone though.
As we’ve reported in followups, most recently last Wednesday night, the bus lane has been described as a joint decision of SDOT/WSDOT/Metro, though SDOT is the only one who is talking about potential changes. I’ll be following up yet again this week.
Guarantee we will see more comments about those pesky bus lanes than about this:https://westseattleblog.com/2019/10/concerned-but-confused-about-climate-change-action-this-might-help/When more of you are minimizing your carbon footprint while using the roads and then are still getting stuck in traffic, your complaints will seem more convincing.
Have you noticed how many Subaru’s are in our area? We have two in my family and they are both rated as PZEV vehicles: The Subaru PZEV (Partial Zero Emission Vehicle) is the affordable, no-compromise, eco-friendly alternative. Although the Subaru PZEV runs on regular unleaded fuel, it offers significant smog-reducing environmental benefits and delivers equal performance compared to non-PZEV cars or SUVs, including hybrids, diesels and alternative fuel vehicles. A PZEV is classified as the cleanest-running gasoline-powered car on the market and was developed to meet the air quality standards of California, the most stringent in North America. A PZEV must meet the Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (SULEV) tailpipe standard and have zero evaporative emissions.learn more here: https://m.subaru.ca/WebPage.aspx?WebSiteID=282&WebPageID=17567There are also a fair amount of electric and hybrid vehicles on our roads. So not everyone is in a gas guzzler and quite a few have made informed decisions on the eco friendly vehicles they drive. Also when a silly decision like the 99 bus lane is causing ALL traffic to backup on arterials, the bridge and the single lane on-ramp onto the 99 – including buses – it means those vehicles and buses are sitting and idling for longer periods of time than before they re-added the lane. I’d think everyone would want traffic to flow quicker, and keep the vehicles moving.
I wouldn’t call anything that runs on gas “eco-friendly” but perhaps “eco-friendlier.” We drive one of those BTW and in five years I’ve never taken the time to look all that up. Every time I look at the PZEV I just keep thinking about the nonsensical phrase “Partial Zero.” But thanks for the explanatory link!
Keep emailing. If you are commenting here and not sending emails to Herbold, Zimbabwe, Durkan, SDOT, WADOT, Metro – then you’re doing nothing to help the situation. Take the time and email them today and every day that this backup keeps occurring.
Public agencies DO read the comments here (trust me), unlike closed social media, BUT yes, you want to also email them because that at the very least puts you into the official public record.
I will let them know that my bicycle commute has been going smoothly.
The commute was better in the middle of the construction. 45 min from the ferry dock to the bridge is just wrong. Regardless driving a car is an option some of us are stuck with. If the C line gets the return trip figured out or if you do not have to be dropped at 3rd and James/Madison in the drug zone I guess taking Metro sounds ok?Please fix the road, go back to what we had 4 weeks ago everything was running quite well.Thank you
The commute home has been brutal for the C line. Takes about 20+ minutes to get from the bridge off ramp up to Alaska st. This has happened a few times now in the past week. I’m assuming a section of the construction they are doing is the reason behind this
Yes, and it doesn’t look like it’s ending any time soon. The way they are doing the construction is utterly mindboggling – small pieces at a time but keeping most of the road blocked off anyway. Worst construction for a short stretch of road I have ever seen anywhere.
Another terrible commute due to the unnecessary bus lane causing backups. I guess they are still “monitoring” the situation to see if it fixes itself (it’s wont). I just emailed Mr. Zimbabwe with my concerns.
The 35th and Avalon construction project has been highly ill-planned. I don’t know why they couldn’t just do 35th in one go, and then Avalon instead of closing both main streets simultaneously. It makes the evening C line unbearable, and it has been adding several minutes to the morning commute all through summer. There are times when it takes the C line 30 minutes to get to Alaska Junction after getting off the bridge.
Sorry, comment time is over.
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