New communications tower going up by Myrtle Reservoir

| Gatewood | West Seattle news

2:20 PM: Thanks to Mike for the photos and word of a tower-replacement project under way by Myrtle Reservoir in Gatewood.

Mike says a city rep on scene “told me they’re replacing the current radio tower (used for public safety agencies, police, fire, and also Metro) with a more rigid tower that will be the same height.”

The city tells us this is a Puget Sound Emergency Radio Network project. The PSERN website explains that “PSERN is jointly owned by the City of Seattle, King County, Eastside Public Safety Communications Agency, and Valley Communications Center” and notes that funding to upgrade it comes from a ballot measure approved by voters in 2015. The tower site, if you are not familiar with that part of West Seattle, is at the highest elevation in city limits. We are pursuing a little more information about this and will add anything more we find out.

6:11 PM: Work’s not done yet, but here’s how it looked before sunset (new tower at left):

zephyr November 6, 2019 (2:47 pm)

Thanks for reporting this. It was a bit of a shock to see it this afternoon. It would have been nice if they could have announced it in some way. They have surely known about this for months.

Denise November 6, 2019 (6:32 pm)

Yes a little communication would have been nice. Ha! I have lived across the street for 20 years and never knew it was a communication tower. That may explain why my cell phone won’t work.

T.M. November 7, 2019 (7:26 am)

This tower is part of the network that emergency and first responders (Fire, Police, Hospitals) use to communicate. If you have to call 911 you’ll be glad this tower is being built. It is replacing old and failing current system.

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