(SDOT MAP with travel times/ Is the ‘low bridge’ closed? LOOK HERE/ West Seattle-relevant traffic cams HERE)
6:56 AM: Good morning. No alerts/incidents in our area so far.
ADMIRAL NOTE: Be extra careful traveling through the Admiral District this afternoon – trick-or-treaters will be visiting businesses 3-6 pm.
I agree the small extension change has helped but there is still a backup because people fail to understand how to merge, and that is still causing backups on the WSB and impacting arterials. At this point everyone is waiting to see what the impact will be from the tunnel tolling that starts next week. Anyone taking bets on how much worse it will get?PSIn all seriousness – How can we better educate drivers on how to merge? Signage at this and other critical merge points like WSB to i5? Billboard and bus PSAs? Drivers in our area are SO bad at it, and it’s just getting worse :(
I agree with PSPS. I see we’re now just going to accept that the “fix” works. 99% of the cars merging out of the bus lane are crossing over the double white lines or immediately after. Which backs us all up on the bridge. Even the buses folks…even the buses! Why can’t we just admit opening the bus lane opens all lanes and makes traffic move…
I think they need to add those rubber tube dividers where the double whites are. People are idiotic and illegally merge. You’d think people would learn, but they don’t.USE THE ENTIRE LANE!
I agree with the rubber barrier poles. People just ignore painted lines, be they white or yellow. They ignore entire red painted lanes. Get physical ;-)
City leaders are hoping we just forget and move on and end up blaming any backups on the tunnel tolling instead of remembering how well all traffic moved out of West Seattle without the bus lane. It’s now faster for me to drive down to 509 North through White Center to hook up with 99 than to just take the West Seattle Bridge (though I acknowledge part of that is because I carpool and am able to take the HOV lane). I’m eagerly awaiting materials from the public disclosure requests I put in so we can all see the planning process that went into this nonsense (my guess is not much of one).
By the way, these are the questions our local elected officials should be asking. I shouldn’t have to put in a public disclosure request to find out exactly what Mr. Zimbabwe is referring to when he says that the reinstallation of the bus lane has “improved transit reliability”. I was unable to attend the local meeting where he showed up. Did he perchance address exactly how much the reinstalled lane has improved times? This is not a difficult question by the way. We should have a city council person who asks this stuff. Believe me, the irony of Lisa supporters with a banner on the pedestrian bridge as traffic below crawls along is not lost on anyone.
What we really need is data. Is this helping buses and by how much? Do buses reach downtown 10 minutes faster now? Or, is the same and just worse for everyone else? I thought Lisa Herbold asked for data over a month ago. Did she give up? It’s real hard to get a straight answer from our leaders on what this helped.
Data??.We dont need data.Everybody is moving slower!!.Everybody needs to call Matt beaulieu 615-1911. Hes the moronic brains behind the merge. He works for the fool Zimbabwe…Its plane and simple.Either the lanes go away or sam and matt need to go…Call matt. .
Sam should come over and ride with me in my car down Admiral towards the bridge at around 7.30 AM. It makes your stomach sink looking at all the traffic. Waiting in line, only to watch chaos occur as people cut in whenever they can is nerve racking to say the least. A cop car or two directing traffic may help people understand the concept of waiting their turn. This is 2019 right? Part of the problem is the bus lane. Part of the problem is the lack of authority. Part of the problem is that drivers in Seattle are terrible at best. Part of the problem is driving here can be confusing, like the low bridge interchange. Sam seriously, come ride with me to town, coffee’s on me! We’ll do a podcast or something and make it worth your while.
I invited matt to leave his office and come to west Seattle to watch the traffic. He said he prefers to wait for the data..hHa.I know, cant make this stuff up…Of course we know the the data will be twisted to say miraculously the lane works!!! Buses are practically flying into the city.Haha.
Sorry, comment time is over.
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