UPDATE: West Marginal Way reopened after early-morning crash

5 AM: Another complication to early-morning traffic – a crash on West Marginal Way. Witnesses say it’s a flipped-car crash. It’s logged in the 5400 block of West Marginal [map]. Police and fire are on scene. SDOT says West Marginal is blocked both ways right now.

5:21 AM: SFD has had to shuffle assignment of medical resources because of the low-bridge outage. In dispatching an added unit, the description of the original crash report was that a car hit a pole, overturned, and caught fire. We don’t know yet about injuries. SPD is calling for an SDOT crew to clean up “foam and debris all over the roadway.”

5:40 AM: Police have just told dispatch they hope to have the southbound lanes reopened “in about five minutes.”

6:15 AM: SDOT says the scene is now completely cleared.

8:10 AM: From the preliminary police summary:

Patrol responded to the report of a vehicle colliding into a pole and flipping onto its top. The call was updated that the vehicle was also on fire. SPD and SFD arrived to find the lone occupant out of the vehicle. The pole had sustained severe damage and City Light responded as well. The entire roadway was closed during the response. The driver was found to be impaired and arrested for DUI. City Light determined the pole would need to be replaced and called their team to respond. The replacement would take several hours and require the closure of some lanes. SDOT arrived and took over the lane closures.

We’re asking City Light about the repair status.

10:35 AM: We’ve confirmed with SFD that no one was injured. Also, here’s what SCL’s Julie Moore tells us about the repairs:

We have two crews working on it. We will probably need to shut down the east lane on West Marginal Way and will have flaggers assisting with that. Other impacts (e.g., outages) are unlikely or will be minimal. Estimating approximately 8-10 hours to complete the work.

26 Replies to "UPDATE: West Marginal Way reopened after early-morning crash"

  • Portside Coffee Company May 12, 2021 (5:23 am)

    I hope everyone is okay! Baristas were able to get to the coffee stand today, once the roads open up they’ll be therw to make coffee!

    • Faraz May 12, 2021 (5:41 am)

      Good morning, would you know if the road is still closed?

      • WSB May 12, 2021 (6:24 am)

        It’s open again now, and we’ve updated.

  • Chris May 12, 2021 (6:45 am)

    I suppose that posting an officer to direct traffic at the 5-way under the bridge was a little too much.  Let’s let everybody just stack up!  Who actually has to go to work anyway?

    • WSB May 12, 2021 (6:53 am)

      Just reopened.

    • Mikah May 12, 2021 (9:14 am)

      There were a lot of people waiting in the left turn lane that goes to both the low bridge and Delridge. It would have been nice if someone was there to tell them the bridge was up for hours and wasn’t likely to come down any time soon. I ended up going straight back to Avalon, then down Genesee to get to Deridge because that lane was blocked. I would’ve been completely screwed if I didn’t know the area. My GPS kept trying to get me to go back to west marginal.

  • JenT May 12, 2021 (7:17 am)

    If you haven’t seen SDOT’s very helpful (not remotely helpful) campaign on how we should be dealing with the Bridge closure until mid-2022, check out their April 14 blog post here.

    Here’s just an excerpt of them making light of this disaster.  Yes, let’s all bike to our Dr appts and hey, why even leave West Seattle! This is *seriously* how SDOT is treating this emergency, and it’s absolutely ridiculous.

    From the SDOT blog:

    “#FlipYourTrip and get around car-free!

    There are so many other ways to get around without cars (like swimming, biking, busing, scooting, strolling, speed walking, jogging, running, carpooling, vanpooling, water taxiing, swimming, ferrying, skipping, skipping backwards, skateboarding, roller skating, roller blading, soap box derby racing, and uh, did I say swimming?)    

    My second-favorite message to share with fellow West Seattleites? Stay local! I mean, why leave our island paradise if you don’t have to?   “

    • Jort May 12, 2021 (11:10 am)

      Yes, you should bike to your doctor’s appointment. There is LITERALLY NOTHING that SDOT can do to make your car drive take less time. It is a maximum limit of geometry and physics and there is literally nothing that can be done to make it better. Maybe instead of reflexively laughing at these suggestions, you should take them to heart. You can learn to experience *real* freedom when you free yourself from your addiction to your automobile. Everything you saw this morning will be 100 times worse this autumn. The good news is that you’ll have options: biking or taking the bus. But no matter what, it will be bad news for your car. 

      • My two cents … May 12, 2021 (2:29 pm)

        @ jort.   1.  Fallacy to state nothing can be done – failed to factor time of day or night, weekday v. Weekend, holidays. 2. I have a broken leg with a cast going from ankle to hip – how will a bike work for me? 3. Construe what you will – but when espousing an opinion, helps to have sound logic to support.

        • Don_Brubeck May 12, 2021 (4:39 pm)

          You may not be able to bike to every doctors appointment, but if as many people as can do it, do it, it reduces traffic congestion. I bike to almost every doctor or dentist appointment unless surgery with anesthesia is required, whether that appointment is in West Seattle or on Pill Hill.  It’s not a big deal, and is often easier and faster than going by car or bus.

  • Pamela May 12, 2021 (8:59 am)

    Extra 30 minutes to get out of West Seattle at 5:15 this am with having to turn around and take Delridge because some drunk decides (I’m assuming that is the impairment) to drive.  Ms Durkan will  probably change speed limit to 10 mph thinking that will prevent law breakers from speeding!

  • reed May 12, 2021 (11:21 am)

    Left the bike in the garage today due to low bridge closure and put on the walking shoes and took the water taxi. Flex people.

    • noteveryoneworksdowntown May 12, 2021 (12:16 pm)

      I guess I could walk to Renton to get to my job of 30+ years.  Glad your commute consists of a change of shoes.  

      • trickycoolj May 12, 2021 (2:03 pm)

        Seriously not all of us work downtown. No one seems to care that the southbound commute has been totally screwed. It was the only reason I moved over here because it was close to work and got me out of the unpredictable slog through downtown. As it stands starting to eye the suburbs now that the commute is equal. 

    • 22blades May 13, 2021 (4:02 am)

      Agree with other posters that the commute to the South is all but ignored. There’s a whole lot of residential street driving going on south of Roxbury too: something they’re not designed for, especially at the speeds people are going.

  • Wendell May 12, 2021 (12:51 pm)

    Left the car at home today, too. Donned walking shoes and headed to my job in Edmonds. Still walking at noon, but not far to go now… 

    • reed May 12, 2021 (2:46 pm)

      Your choice to commute from West Seattle to Edmonds. I used to work in Everett, and I chose to live there. When I took a new job in Seattle, I didn’t like the amount of time I spent commuting (3 days a week by bike, two by bus), so I moved here. Subjecting yourself to a commute is all a choice.

      • wendell May 12, 2021 (9:04 pm)

        9pm. Just got home from a lovely walk. What shoes do you recommend? I’m off to choose a few pairs for next week’s commute.

    • Canton May 12, 2021 (10:41 pm)

      Hear ya Wendell. Took a brisk swim to Interbay today for work. Had to backfloat most of it due to ferry wakes. Made it there just as fellow employees were clocking out. 8 hour commute. Guess I’ll saddle up for tomorrow. Hope my horse doesn’t leave any speed bumps.

      • reed May 13, 2021 (7:48 am)

        Noticed that both of you completely glossed over the fact that you CHOOSE to make your commutes in the way that you do, but keep deflecting and being melodramatic. It is never your fault your commutes are terrible, but everyone else’s.  Canton, if you are able, you sound like a good candidate for a bike commute. Interbay is a safe easy ride. For context, I can ride from my house in north admiral to discovery park in about 35 minutes. If you had an e-bike, it would be even faster. 

  • Don_Brubeck May 12, 2021 (4:44 pm)

    Another example of how the delays on West Marginal Way SW are affected more by people driving too fast than by anything else.

  • Mj May 12, 2021 (5:24 pm)

    Jort – there are item’s that SDoT could do to enhance capacity such as daylighting intersections, peak period parking restrictions on Arterials, revert speed limits back to the prior limits on Principal Arterials to improve safety and reduce incidents. 

    And this Fall provide a more robust transit option providing all day and weekend service to all areas of WS that historically had such service.

  • Mj May 12, 2021 (6:50 pm)

    And Jort the SDoT could allow more use of the low level bridge that is not being fully utilized.  For example 12 hour night shift medical workers be allowed to use the bridge. 

    Another idea is provide WS residents north of say SW Morgan St. say 4 passes for each licensed driver to use for an afternoon hike in North Bend without having to take a whole day off.

    • Auntie May 12, 2021 (7:34 pm)

      LOL Mj – I guess then residents south of say SW Morgan St could just “take a hike.”

  • Mj May 12, 2021 (10:11 pm)

    Auntie good one, but I lived in Highland Park for years and rarely used the WSB, the 1st Ave bridge was the best route.  People living north of SW Morgan are forced to drive south even if their destination is north.  But if you live in southern portion of WS and are going north you are not going south to go north when using the 1st Ave. Bridge

  • 22blades May 13, 2021 (4:21 am)

    Here’s to hoping for an alcohol & insurance induced hangover.

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