TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Wednesday watch

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

7:06 AM: Good morning! No incidents or alerts so far.

BUS STOP REMINDER: Metro says that starting today, “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.” There instead is a temporary stop around the corner on EB Avalon east of 35th.

7:38 AM: If you take 4th into downtown – SDOT reports a crash (appears to involve a bus) blocking the NB outside bus lane by Royal Brougham.

8:35 AM: Stalled vehicle blocking one lane in NB 99 tunnel.

MRk October 9, 2019 (8:08 am)

I suggest everyone just drive-in the lanes and take back our roads from Sam Zimbabwe.

smittytheclown October 9, 2019 (11:25 am)

Exactly MRK, If they don’t fix this soon it’s going to turn into a jail break. They can’t pull us all over, and if they do it will slow down the buses!

Quora October 9, 2019 (9:23 am)

On the C, Pioneer Square is a complete disaster right now. Can this city get anything right? I thought there were supposed to be improvements coming?

GatewoodGuy October 9, 2019 (9:55 am)

Has anyone received a response from Lisa Herbold with an actual position on this? Apparently she found out about SDOT’s plans to move the start of the bus lane via WSB. Far be it for me to tell Ms. Herbold how to do her job, but it might be a good time to make Mr. Zimbabwe realize that the Council controls his dept’s budget. Has SDOT even asserted that the lane has improved bus times? Surely there’s enough data now to tell us.

WS Resident October 9, 2019 (11:05 am)

This was included in an email response from Lisa Herbold last week: https://herbold.seattle.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Letter-to-Zimbabwe-re-SR99.pdfI’m not sure if she received a response from Mr. Zimbabwe.. I know he has not yet responded to my email. My expectations were low and I was expecting a canned response like “thanks for your email. I don’t have time to respond to everyone but appreciate your perspective”. However Mr. Zimbabwe (or his office/assistant) not responding at all says more than a copy/paste reply.

Matt P October 9, 2019 (10:58 am)

So when are they actually going to move the bus lane back a thousand feet like they said? They added the bus lane over a weekend with no notice but it’s been over 2 weeks now and they’re still dragging their feet on fixing it same as the summer problems with the buses on 1st ave. Are they just hoping we stop complaining about it?

cyclist October 9, 2019 (11:03 am)

The lower West Seattle bridge has been closed to traffic, cyclists, pedestrians for the last 40mins. No idea what’s going on.

AMD October 9, 2019 (11:12 am)

I took the bus to work right about 8am and it was smooth sailing to get through the cloverleaf and into the bus lane. Thank you, SDoT! Now if SPD could just start doing better bus lane enforcement, we’ll be golden!

Lola October 9, 2019 (11:12 am)

It seems like we have 4 lanes on the bridge now. The amount of people that drive in the Bus lane all the way from where it starts to the end is amazing. I especially love the ones who turn on their fake blinker like they want to get over but pass every opportunity to do so. Bring back the cop who used to sit at the bottom of the bridge and pull these self entitled idiots over.

CAM October 9, 2019 (2:00 pm)

Exactly. There were zero backups on the bridge or 99 at 10:15 am today and traffic was moving at or over the speed limit. Despite this a handful of people continued to drive in the bus lanes because apparently they believe the laws don’t apply to them. This is why it’s extremely hard to feel any sympathy for the people complaining about the bus lane.

WestSeattle56 October 9, 2019 (11:35 am)

Last night KIRO did a story on the bridge fiasco. Even though SDOT has said they’ve “fixed” things since the fish truck fiasco it was clear Mr Zimbabwe had no reason for the long cleanup time-said he’s “seen worse” When asked about “the general” had no comment as to where he was. My takeaway: SDOT has NO plan’s has NO idea’s and can be counted on to do NOTHING.

WSB October 9, 2019 (12:58 pm)

I’ve seen a lot worse too. In this case, I’m actually surprised that pulling a wrecked dump truck out of the median, repairing the median, and cleaning up a fuel spill didn’t take longer. As chronicled here with incremental updates Tuesday, the full closure was fairly short. What do you think they could have done differently?

shawn October 9, 2019 (11:39 am)

This is a reminder that roads are a public good, and driving is not a right but a privilege, granted by temporary license, predicated on obeying the traffic laws, such as staying in the correct lanes for private vehicles, yielding to buses, and using your turn signals.

TSurly October 9, 2019 (11:41 am)

Seamless bicycle commute again today. Only problem is that I should have worn shoe covers, toes were cold when I got to work on time, nay, early.

Olafur October 9, 2019 (4:02 pm)

Very TSmart of you, but be careful, lest we think you’re TSmug.
- flimflam October 9, 2019 (4:41 pm)
  
  T-oo late…

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