WEST SEATTLE BRIDGE: Three notes

Three West Seattle Bridge notes tonight:

LOW BRIDGE CAMERA TICKETING: Two days into the city’s use of automated cameras to enforce low-bridge restrictions, no data yet – we asked SDOT how soon information would be available about citation numbers and traffic value, and the bottom line was, not soon, according to spokesperson Ethan Bergerson. “It will take us a little while to know how many citations have been issued because the photos need to be reviewed by SPD before a citation is issued. We will give updates about Low Bridge traffic and enforcement during future Community Task Force meetings, although it will be too soon to provide any data at tomorrow’s meeting.”

MEETING TOMORROW: The West Seattle Bridge Community Task Force meets online at noon Wednesday. A preview of the presentation shows an even busier agenda than you’d guess by looking at the lineup – timelines for work on both the high bridge and the low bridge, updates on traffic-mitigation projects under Reconnect West Seattle – including what’s being considered for West Marginal Way SW – and more. You cam watch via YouTube livestream here; you can comment via email at westseattlebridge@seattle.gov.

BRIDGE MONEY: As mentioned by two city councilmembers during their Monday morning briefing, the Puget Sound Regional Council is considering routing $15 million in federal money to the city to help with the high-bridge repairs. That’s about a third of the very rough early estimate of the work’s cost. This is a topic on Thursday morning’s meeting of the PSRC’s Transportation Policy Board, 9:30 am online. The agenda includes information on how to watch and how to comment.

14 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE BRIDGE: Three notes"

  • Diane January 12, 2021 (8:49 pm)

    what is the ID and password for the CTF meeting tomorrow, so I can call in to listen?

    • WSB January 12, 2021 (9:22 pm)

      The public viewing link is YouTube – should be linked above. They don’t have a phone option (I’ve asked – you can try emailing westseattlebridge@seattle.gov to see if they’ll relent).

  • Joel January 12, 2021 (9:27 pm)

    The selective enforcement of laws in this city…maybe one day every law will be enforce….

  • Diane January 12, 2021 (10:30 pm)

    thanks for the info; this city, ugh; so much for making it easy for WS residents to participate 

  • Mj January 12, 2021 (10:36 pm)

    It’s frustrating that the City is not actively repairing the bridge now.  The basic item is adding reinforcing steel, the original bridge designers anticipated and designed the bridge to add this steel. 

    The City finds millions of dollars for other items but keeps looking for a third party to pay for the repair work.  Why not pay for the repair work with City money and look for third party funding for the other items?

  • Seabruce January 12, 2021 (11:44 pm)

    Now that they’ve done some work on the high rise, would they consider allowing one lane in each direction for vehicles under a certain weight while keeping the low bridge as is?

    • CAM January 13, 2021 (12:04 pm)

      Given 10 months of data for how well your neighbors respect traffic laws, are you volunteering to man the scale at either end to ensure compliance?

  • Robert M January 12, 2021 (11:50 pm)

    It’s about time this enforcement system were put in place.  So many law breakers that could have been helping pay for our new bridge or to support other infrastructure that is in much need.  

  • Sadtaco January 13, 2021 (11:36 am)

    I left Seattle on December 14th, and have zero regrets. The city spent 8 months forming another blue ribbon task force, wasting time and money, only to turn around and decide to fix the bridge (what they should have done on Day 1).The amount of time and money wasted by the City Council and mayor’s office is staggering.

    • happyburrito January 13, 2021 (3:14 pm)

      Right, because performing an engineering analysis to make data-driven decisions is a waste of time and money. I have zero issue with west seattle losing an armchair engineer resident. 

  • zark00` January 13, 2021 (2:45 pm)

    That meeting was – something.  Apparently SDOT believes that we (WSea residents) are overwhelmingly happy with their work so far.  That’s all they heard from the supposed representatives for West Seattle – heaps of praise for all of their ‘hard work’ – over and over again – 20 minutes of the 2 hour meeting was them praising each other.

  • Alki resident January 13, 2021 (11:53 pm)

    WS blog, I’m sure you have asked but we need an actual Repair timeline and deliverables for the year. The updates they send are absolutely pointless, no new information ever. They should be giving us what they have done on repairs at a minimum monthly. 

    • WSB January 14, 2021 (6:27 am)

      Meeting report coming today. Lots of info.

  • DeadEnder January 14, 2021 (5:11 am)

    Just curious if they are sending out all those citation letters to the license plates they took photos of from the start of the debacle.

Sorry, comment time is over.