TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Tuesday watch

(SDOT MAP with travel times/ Is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE/ West Seattle-relevant traffic cams HERE)

7:15 AM: Good morning! If you use Airport Way, note that police have shut it down just south of the West Seattle Bridge because of a crash.

TRANSIT NOTE: From Metro:

Beginning Wednesday, October 9 and until further notice, Metro routes 21 Express, 21 Local, 50, 55, 773 West Seattle Water Taxi Shuttle and the RapidRide C Line will not serve stop #22820 northbound on 35th Av SW just south of SW Avalon Way, due to construction.

During this time, riders may board or exit routes 21 Express and Local, 55 and the RapidRide C Line heading toward downtown Seattle, Route 50 to Othello Station and Route 773 Water Taxi Shuttle to Seacrest Marina at the temporary stop eastbound on SW Avalon Way just east of 35th Av SW.

7:28 AM: SPD confirms the Airport Way crash has killed at least one person, so that scene will be closed for quite a while.

8:25 AM: Bridge crash involving a dump truck, multiple lanes blocked. Westbound truck went into the jersey barrier. Photo from Jonathan:

Breaking this out into a separate story shortly. (Update: Find that here.)

Quora October 8, 2019 (7:28 am)

SHOCKING. Looks like another traffic jam.

Quora October 8, 2019 (8:24 am)

Confirmed – currently sitting in a traffic jam as far as I can see on the bridge. Me and thousands of others.

Lynn October 8, 2019 (8:26 am)

There’s an accident WB on the bridge. Big truck smashed into the barrier. Our bus just drove by it.

Kate October 8, 2019 (8:32 am)

What’s happening on the bridge this morning? Traffic is being diverted westbound. Traffic is also being diverted eastbound under the bridge at Avalon.

Mj October 8, 2019 (8:36 am)

Eastbound bridge is a parking lot. Best to find an alternative route.

Andy C October 8, 2019 (8:44 am)

Not to beat a dead horse, but the SR-99 bus lane has got to go. One of the greatest joys in my life is dropping my daughter off at pre-school and (on most mornings) twirling with her and her friends. This morning my wife and I were both far enough along in our routines before our sweet daughter awoke that I asked if she could do drop off so I could beat the traffic. I left my house at 6:45am and traffic was already backed up to the top of the bridge. The complete inaction by the city, county, and state is really disappointing – though not unexpected. <end rant>

Nolan October 8, 2019 (9:01 am)

Single cars are not more important than busses. Sorry, not sorry.
- Aero October 8, 2019 (9:13 am)
  
  Sorry Nolan but a lot of us have to drop our children at daycare and can’t bus
  - Jort October 8, 2019 (9:34 am)
    
    Yes you can. Ride the bus instead, it’s safe for you and your children. Stop driving.
    - Elle October 8, 2019 (11:10 am)
      
      Taking the bus to school / daycare with my kids then to work would increase my commute time by at least an hour a day, and make it really stressful to be on time at pick up. No thank you. Until there is a really good public transportation system in place in West Seattle (= more buses, more stops, park and rides, reliable timings etc), you cannot expect people that have families and a full time job to give up their cars.
    - Kav October 8, 2019 (11:28 am)
      
      Try taking around an infant and a toddler on public transportation every day multiple times a day with all the gear required and tell me how easy and great it is (not). Kids have to nap too and sometimes you can’t be back in home in time so the car it is.
    - WSParent October 8, 2019 (8:16 pm)
      
      Crazy how millions of people do it every day in New York, Chicago, London, etc.
    - workin4thedirt October 8, 2019 (12:07 pm)
      
      I concur. Stop driving.
    - Aero October 8, 2019 (1:50 pm)
      
      Jort- taking the bus would require a 20min walk with my 2 year old in tow. That bus wouldn’t even take me directly to his daycare. So no, taking the bus isn’t an option for me as a single parent.
    - Single Driver October 8, 2019 (3:14 pm)
      
      At first I was going to comment and say that it seems like the best solution to this back and forth is to not have kids. Daycare solution solved! However, traffic was so bad that I couldn’t drive my dog to doggy daycare this morning sooooooo, I totally get it.haha
  - Nolan October 8, 2019 (11:39 am)
    
    That’s totally fine, as long as you understand that busses are a significantly better use of our limited transport infrastructure and therefore deserve higher priority. Cutting bus lanes because some drivers are unhappy is not an acceptable solution. We can learn from other cities’ mistakes instead of making them over again.
    - Smittytheclown October 8, 2019 (11:59 am)
      
      No issues with buses getting an advantage, the problem is that the new lane is creating backups so long that it impacts…… buses! It’s self defeating.
- NotSorryEither October 8, 2019 (9:38 am)
  
  Agree that buses should have priority but the bus lane on 99 is contributing to backups and longer delays for everyone on the bridge and 99 on-ramp – and this includes buses. Traffic was flowing so much better prior to the re-addition of the bus lane since folks exiting at Dearborn didn’t need to merge, and those that do merge left had more time to do so without making that whole area a choke point. If buses had a dedicated lane on the on-ramp the bus lane would make sense, but as-is the 1mile lane is just contributing to backups and creating more delays for everyone.
- Andy C October 8, 2019 (11:22 am)
  
  Nolan: Did I at any point claim that single cars are more important? More importantly, could King County Metro provide any data that this has actually improved bus on-time rates? My suspicion is that any time savings buses have found on SR-99 has more than been offset by increased time in the traffic backlog. Furthermore, if your concerns are environmental then think of how much worse fuel efficiency has been in this horrific traffic. Without going into details, taking the bus and being an involved parent are a Venn diagram where it just doesn’t work for everybody.
  - Nolan October 8, 2019 (11:30 am)
    
    You’re insisting that a bus lane should be taken out to try to improve the flow of traffic for drivers, so yes, you are actually saying that. On the other hand, you’re putting an awful lot of words in my mouth. My point of contention is that the bus lane should not be taken out because busses move significantly more people for the space they take up. Nothing more, and certainly nothing less.

Mike October 8, 2019 (8:44 am)

Another day, another accident. Why not try enforcing speed limits on the WS bridge? Maybe we all can get were we need to go on time. It’s not I-5 people!