TRAFFIC/TRANSIT: Friday watch, third week of West Seattle Bridge closure

5:40 AM: The high-rise West Seattle Bridge remains closed for the 18th consecutive morning.

SDOT clarified Wednesday that the low bridge is reserved for transit, freight, and emergency responses; SPD presence continued on Thursday and new signage is still being added.

REMINDER: For general traffic, the main route across the Duwamish River is the 1st Avenue South Bridge (map) – that’s also the main way to get to I-5, cutting across Georgetown.

Or you can use the South Park Bridge (map).

Check the @SDOTBridges Twitter feed to see if a bridge is opening for marine traffic.

TRANSIT ALERTS FOR TODAY:

As first reported here, Metro‘s schedule shrunk again at the start of the week . Use the lookup to see which trips are canceled.

The Water Taxi’s schedule is also reduced – 2 morning departures and 2 evening returns – and its shuttles are no longer operating.

ROAD WORK UPDATE:

Work on the last section of Avalon to be paved, west of 35th SW, is now on pause until Monday because of the mayor’s orders for a two-day citywide public-works construction stopdown – striping will resume Monday; here’s the latest.

OTHER LINKS

SDOT’s traffic map
Our traffic-cams page

Let us know what you’re seeing if you’re still commuting – comment, or text (not if you’re at the wheel!) 206-293-6302.

Amy Thomson April 10, 2020 (6:31 am)

I’m hearing a lot more train traffic along West Marginal Way (we live just above the Duwamish Longhouse). Have they been rerouting trains away from the railroad bridge near the bridge?

Railroaded April 10, 2020 (11:43 am)

The train traffic on West Marginal is dead end. All train traffic west of the Duwamish River has to cross the river on the draw bridge. So, the answer to your question is NO.

Native April 10, 2020 (10:15 am)

I sent Mayor Durkin and Lisa H an e mail suggesting that monies from the not popular streetcar project be diverted to the bridge.Buzz has it that the city that would not allocate money to the magnolia bridge is fussing on West Seattle?

WSB April 10, 2020 (11:11 am)

CM Herbold had advocated for not spending more on the streetcar long before this. As for the Magnolia Bridge, not remotely comparable.
Ice April 10, 2020 (8:00 pm)

Because of the way funding for infrastructure works, it would be illegal for them to simply transfer the funds from the street car to the bridge.

Lynda April 10, 2020 (12:11 pm)

Seattle Met says it will be closed at least a year!! Oh the traffic headaches!

WSB April 10, 2020 (12:30 pm)

Certainly “months” as we and others have reported would cover a year. That said, it is an unattributed statement, and as recently as yesterday in his KUOW interview SDOT’s director would only repeat “months,” so I contacted SDOT immediately after seeing your comment. No one there was contacted or interviewed by anyone from that publication. (I’m going to see if I can reach the story’s writer, not my usual sort of thing but anything bridge-related is serious business.) – TR
- sna April 10, 2020 (1:27 pm)
  
  I think it’s safe to assume even when the “months” are over and it’s reopened, it will be with limited lane capacity.
  - WSB April 10, 2020 (1:34 pm)
    
    THAT, they’ve been very consistent about saying, going back to the original March 23rd announcement.
    - Lynda April 10, 2020 (5:08 pm)
      
      This was copied from the online Seattle Met: The Seattle Department of Transportation says it’ll be at least a year.Hopefully it will just be months and not 12.

Brayton April 10, 2020 (1:53 pm)

Linked below is part three of someone’s individual thoughts on the condition of the bridge. Granted this is just a YouTube video but it’s interesting to hear his thoughts. This particular video does show an angle I hadn’t seen before with what appears to be a disturbing long crack on the south side, if it’s truly a crack and not something else. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s66ZLGuWfX4

West Seattle has endured a lot of disruption over the last year, to say the least. I love West Seattle, but the loss of the bridge for an unknown length of time may necessitate leaving. 🙁 Regardless, I’m still curious about what’s happening (structurally) and what the final outcome will be.

Jon Wright April 10, 2020 (3:23 pm)

I have a follow up question for you that is a bit rhetorical but why would I care about “someone’s individual thoughts on the condition of the bridge?” I tend to limit my caring to what structural engineers and other relevant subject matter experts have to say.

WSB April 10, 2020 (3:30 pm)

This person is anonymous so far as I can tell and elsewhere in the YT channel has bizarre rantings about other topics…

Derrick April 10, 2020 (4:42 pm)

Can we revisit why the low bridge is closed to all traffic except freight, transit and emergency vehicles right now? It seems that with the stay at home order, only essential workers are traveling anyways right now. Further, the 24 hour restriction seems to be excessive – perhaps allowing those of us working odd hours to take the low bridge from 8p-5a or something would not disrupt any traffic flows but sure make life easier for a bunch of us.

KBear April 10, 2020 (6:52 pm)

Because if they opened it up at 8 pm, then there would be a line of traffic waiting to cross the bridge and emergency vehicles couldn’t get through.

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