(Photo by Tony Welch)

Tomorrow, the West Seattle Bridge closure will factor into a discussion at the City Council’s Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee: The issue: Should the city’s Comprehensive Plan be amended to consider the potential effects of a long-term closure? The plan can only be amended once a year, and tomorrow’s committee meeting takes up potential amendments that can’t advance without councilmembers voting to “docket” them. Amendments can be proposed by anyone inside or outside city government; the amendment that would take the bridge closure’s potential effects into consideration is proposed by Deb Barker, a community advocate whose current roles include membership on the West Seattle Bridge Community Task Force. Almost since the start of the closure, she has advocated for the city to look at its effects beyond the basic matter of bridgelessness, and ways to mitigate them. The council staff report says that staffers recommend docketing it, though the Seattle Planning Commission and Office of Planning and Community Development do not. From the staff report:

Amendment with mixed recommendations

Amendment 2 would amend the Transportation Element and FLUM to address the effects of the West Seattle High-Rise Bridge emergency closure. The proposal lists a wide range of changes related to the closure. Many of these proposals are regulatory in nature and would not affect the Comprehensive Plan. However, Central Staff recommend moving Amendment 2 forward because the Comprehensive Plan may need policy modifications to address the major, unexpected and potentially long-term impact to mobility in Seattle caused by the bridge closure. Considering whether changes to the Comprehensive Plan are merited due to this significant impact to the City’s infrastructure is prudent.

SPC and OPCD disagree. They conclude that the proposal would be better addressed through the budgetary and programmatic processes currently being coordinated by the Seattle Department of Transportation.

Tomorrow’s meeting also includes a public hearing and vote on two West Seattle amendments – a proposal to change the West Seattle Hub Urban Village boundaries to include Providence Mount St. Vincent, and additions to the Delridge Neighborhood Plan. The committee meets at 9:30 am tomorrow (Wednesday); the agenda explains how to watch and how to comment.

Bridge updates as we start the holiday-shortened workweek:

(Photo by Neal Chism)

CITY COUNCIL VOTES ON FUNDING: The plan for $70 million in “interfund” loans to finance the first stage of West Seattle Bridge work gets a final vote when councilmembers reconvene today after the two-week end-of-summer recess. This won unanimous Transportation Committee approval before the recess. More info is in the 2 pm meeting agenda.

BRIDGE STABILIZATION UPDATE: In case you haven’t seen this already, SDOT has published its second end-of-week update on the stabilization work, including this:

(This) week, the contractor is planning to:

(SDOT photo, on one of the under-bridge platforms)

-Complete the first phase of filling cracks with epoxy.
-Begin the second phase of crack injection towards the middle of the bridge.
-Continue to inspect cracks.
-Place carbon fiber wrap around recently filled cracks.
-Continue installing the post tensioning system.

During this work, you’ll see:

-Some crews working on top of and under the bridge.
-Scaffolding and crews working on platforms suspended under the bridge.

There’s additional work taking place inside the bridge – including monitoring cracks and preparing for the installation of additional post-tensioning strands – that you will not be able to see.

COMMUNITY TASK FORCE MEETS: 3 weeks after its last meeting, the West Seattle Bridge Community Task Force meets online Wednesday at noon. We hope to get the agenda and connection information from SDOT later today, but in the meantime, one known agenda item: The Reconnect West Seattle implementation plan. We’ve previewed the draft, and among other things, SDOT has slight revisions in the.mode-shift commuting goals – increasing the percentage of commutes it hopes will be made by bicycle next year to 10 percent, for one example (last year’s baseline was 1 percent):

In the 2019 Baseline, about 60 bicycles crossed the Duwamish per AM peak hour. The Lower Spokane Bridge can accommodate 400 – 1,000 bicycles per hour. To accommodate 1,000 bicycles per AM peak hour, SDOT will need to make substantive capital improvements across West Seattle.

The Reconnect WS plan has separate bicycle and freight sub-plans as well as four project lists for the areas most affected by bridge-detour traffic.
12:30 PM UPDATE: Here’s the link for watching tomorrow’s meeting, or use access code: 146 544 1172 after calling 408-418-9388.

AUDIT OF OTHER BRIDGES: Right after the sudden bridge shutdown took so many by surprise 5 1/2 months ago, Councilmember Alex Pedersen – who chairs the Transportation Committee – called for an audit of the city’s other bridges, to be sure no other surprises are lurking. He announced in this online update that the audit will be presented to his committee next week, on September 16th.