TRAFFIC/TRANSIT: Wednesday watch, 5th week of West Seattle Bridge closure

5:53 AM: 30th morning without the high-rise West Seattle Bridge. Tonight, a digital Town Hall about the closure, including traffic management and continuing low-bridge restrictions.

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, exiting at Michigan.

The other option is the South Park Bridge (map), which drops you onto East Marginal Way one mile south of the north end of the 1st Ave. South Bridge.

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

ROAD WORK ALERT: Striping/marker work continues this week in the 35th/Avalon/Alaska project zone.

TRANSIT ALERTS:

Metro’s third round of service cuts took effect this week – details here. The Water Taxi continues its reduced (and shuttle-less) schedule.

OTHER LINKS

SDOT’s traffic map
Our traffic-cams page

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

Hoku April 22, 2020 (7:11 am)

Just saw a 21X go by in the far south end of Arbor Heights. Per METRO this route has been entirely eliminated for now. Odd.

Hoku April 22, 2020 (7:24 am)

Now I’m truly confused: another 21X just went by.

anonyme April 22, 2020 (7:32 am)

The 21X is running through Arbor Heights again this morning. Why? If the route is canceled, whom do they expect to pick up? Do people just stand out in the rain at bus stops out of habit? How does this help anyone if it is unscheduled and unannounced?

Aaron April 22, 2020 (10:12 am)

I’ve seen the 125 still running off and on near south seattle college. That one is cancelled too. I don’t get it.

AlexC April 22, 2020 (7:42 am)

Has anyone else noticed the buses being more crowded? No place to sit more than 3 feet away from anyone else. I don’t know if it’s because they cut the buses even more or because more people are actually riding. Not a lot of masks either.

J April 22, 2020 (9:20 am)

Yes. I wonder if Boeing restarting is increasing bus ridership here. Certainly people are moving about and breathing on each other more now. Infections will be increasing, hospitals will get busier again. If you are at high risk of death or complications it is time to redouble sheltering efforts. The next wave is coming fast. My guess is by June our area will be more frightening than before.
Pizmo April 22, 2020 (9:27 am)

I rode the bus today for the first time in 7 weeks. The bus driver announced that as of today, all buses (60 ft buses) will only allow 16 passengers at a time. It wasn’t an issue at 5:45 this morning, but I’ll be curious for this evenings commute. Also, about 30 percent of the riders wore masks.

airwolf April 22, 2020 (7:56 am)

how did folks cross the river before the WSB was constructed?and would this be an option? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xY1gpWFkgZY&t=373s

sf April 22, 2020 (9:20 am)

I’ll support that. Admiral to Downtown – 5 minutes. Also zip line option for the express run.

If others can keep suggesting blame/firing, movable pontoon bridges, special rules for them to use the lower bridge and more lanes that pinch into the same lower volume alternate bridges and refuse to accept that there are some new realities….

then I don’t accept that I can’t have a zipline to downtown.
- David April 22, 2020 (9:42 am)
  
  sf – I like the way you think!!!! 🤣🤣🤣
- tsurly April 22, 2020 (10:50 am)
  
  Assuming the zipline starts on top of the hill and generally follows the water taxi route to the downtown ferry terminal, the total linear distance is about 4,400 feet (who cares if it disrupts marine traffic, only west seattle residents matter). Some quick back of the napkin math shows that to maintain a 3% slope from Admiral (ground elevation of 300ish feet) to the downtown ferry terminal (elevation 10 feet), the starting elevation for the zipline would need to be at an elevation of 1,320ish feet. Of course this doesn’t take in to account slack in the zipline, so lets just add 20% height to our start elevation, which brings us to a starting elevation of 1,584ish feet. Sounds like a fun ride, I support this. When will SDOT, WSDOT, Inslee, Herbold start building the the nearly 1,300 foot tower on top of Admiral to start getting people downtown? Heads must roll if they do not take this into serious consideration!
  - sf April 22, 2020 (11:08 am)
    
    Engineering proposal is already done. Here’s an video of our future commute.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYWGkFXQHO0$5 for someone to bring this idea up at the town hall.
    - WSB April 22, 2020 (11:41 am)
      
      “Cute and cuddly, boys, cute and cuddly.” – Skipper
  - WSJ April 22, 2020 (11:10 am)
    
    Stop pushing your aerial agenda and pretending like everyone can use the zip line.Some of us have *real* jobs to do, and I can’t strap a ladder or sheet of plywood to my back.
  - AB83 April 22, 2020 (3:54 pm)
    
    How about no,how about you just walk or ride your bike to work I support that idea
East Coast Cynic April 22, 2020 (10:14 am)

We may run into similar issues to light rail construction: Where will the poles holding the lines go up, and over whose houses will the gondola cars travel (or what houses do we demolish to build them), and the potential to create an unsightly view and wreck home values.
- West Seattle Lurker April 22, 2020 (10:58 am)
  
  Mike from IT?
- sf April 22, 2020 (11:03 am)
  
  Ok, cannon installed at Hamilton View Point Park for human projectiles. We will go outfitted in winged suits/parachutes over business casual. C’mon – work with me. p.s. haven’t you heard – our homes have no value so we may as well find some joy.
  - tsurly April 22, 2020 (11:49 am)
    
    even better! Here is the “expert consultant” that should be retained for the cannon design. He doesn’t work for SDOT, so he is automatically qualified for the position.
newnative April 22, 2020 (10:26 am)

I think this would be faster
- sf April 22, 2020 (10:58 am)
  
  Best part – the policeman stopping car traffic for the zip liners/base jumpers. If we filmed it here – we could cut to a shot of Jort astride his bike with a tear in his eye as the cars were stopped and we all enjoyed the hell out of some alternate transportation.
- J April 22, 2020 (1:42 pm)
  
  Better pack an extra pair of pants for the office!

buglarbustindad April 22, 2020 (9:51 am)

This Seattle Department of Transportation has not handled
this catastrophe well.

The bridge general contractor, Kiweit Corporation, should have
been consulted long ago.

Federal assistance should be requested now.

It should not take a year to determine whether to repair or
replace the structure.

Optional right of way or tunneling alternatives should be
investigated now.

WSB April 22, 2020 (10:45 am)

Do we know that they haven’t? I don’t have time to go back through the reports right now.

Meantime, anyone looking for an in-depth explanation of the Pier 18 situation, SDOT has just posted this:

https://sdotblog.seattle.gov/2020/04/22/west-seattle-bridge-an-update-on-pier-18/
- Justawestseattleguy April 22, 2020 (11:02 am)
  
  Thanks for pointing out this update it was really useful, at least for this layman. Thank you also for your continued outstanding coverage of this critical Seattle issue
- Roms April 22, 2020 (11:02 am)
  
  That’s a great post, with some dates pertaining to the work they’re currently doing, and that can be understood by all. Hopefully they will also update the project page, http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/projects-and-programs/programs/bridges-stairs-and-other-structures/bridges/west-seattle-high-rise-bridge-safety-project, which that same information.
- wscommuter April 22, 2020 (11:50 am)
  
  Thank you for posting this – it is really informative.

JRR April 22, 2020 (10:27 am)

Please stop driving highway speeds down Roxbury. People live here.

Baffled April 22, 2020 (10:47 am)

Is it really necessary to announce daily how many days the bridge has been closed? Who cares at this point? Everyone knows it is going to be hundreds of days until it reopens, so why bother?

Maybe April 22, 2020 (11:16 am)

I personally like the time tracking. It’s such a small thing to be upset about, really.
- Baffled April 22, 2020 (1:25 pm)
  
  I’m not upset, I just think it’s silly.

AS April 22, 2020 (11:02 am)

Why do they appear now to not allow all harbor island workers to use the low bridge and only the long shoreman!?

Bob Lang April 22, 2020 (11:48 am)

ALL harbor island workers need access (vigor, longshoremen, ssa marine, refinery, etc.)This one-size-fits-all approach is only going to kill the waterfront community.The majority of patrons eating breakfast lunch and dinner at the Chelan Cafe, Subway, delridge market, using west Seattle athletic club,. Uptown espresso, etc. In general the West Seattle community will lose hundreds/thousands of daily patrons. And when this bridge is finally fixed in a few years these Small businesses will be out of business.

buglarbustindad April 22, 2020 (12:17 pm)

Bearing issues were “observed” for at least 6 years….not good.

BBILL April 22, 2020 (3:31 pm)

The pier 18 bearing was a Continue To Observe (CTO), just like many other items. With the benefit of history it is ‘easy’ to suggest that more should have been done, but no one knew that would be a significant issue. What is not outlined is the likely cause of a bearing failure–earthquake? age? manufacturing defect? something else?

Sorry, comment time is over.