UPDATE: Bus/power lines incident closes 35th SW north of Roxbury for 7+ hours

12:14 PM: Thanks to Steve for the photo. Avoid 35th SW at and north of Roxbury. An incident involving two buses, a power pole, and power lines has blocked 35th both ways. No injuries reported, and everyone’s out of the buses, but SPD, SFD, and Metro are all arriving at the scene.

12:24 PM: SPD says this started when another vehicle hit a power pole, causing it to fall onto the two buses. Our crew in the area reports 35th is blocked at Cambridge (both ways).

(SDOT traffic-camera photo)

12:30 PM: We talked to a sergeant at the scene who says there was NOT a third vehicle – the RapidRide bus was letting someone off, the 120 bus was coming by and may have had some kind of mechanical problem, and wound up hitting the pole. City Light has arrived is awaited at the scene to deal with the downed wires as well as the pole.

(WSB photo)

This may remain blocked for a while, so if you need to go east/west in the south end, use Barton instead.

2:55 PM: Thanks to the texter who sent the photo above, showing the downed pole. At the site right now, the buses are gone, but City Light remains:

(SDOT camera photo)

4:16 PM: Still there working on it.

4:36 PM: Though there was no initial outage at this scene, the map shows 17 customers out in the immediate area of the downed pole for about an hour now (separate from the earlier weather-related outages elsewhere in West Seattle). A commenter says the crew at the scene is awaiting a new pole.

5:49 PM: Looks like the pole’s being placed:

7:44 PM: Thanks to Tiffany for the update in comments – the street has finally reopened.

18 Replies to "UPDATE: Bus/power lines incident closes 35th SW north of Roxbury for 7+ hours"

  • n7oep September 18, 2021 (12:31 pm)

    Glad to hear no one was hurt. Why is there a Route 120 bus on 35th????

    • WSB September 18, 2021 (12:58 pm)

      Don’t know but I have a closer photo and it definitely says 120. Will ask Metro on Monday followup…

      • Arshpreet September 18, 2021 (3:22 pm)

        Rt.120 is rerouted cause of 26th is closed to north traffic 

    • AMD September 18, 2021 (2:27 pm)

      This is the re-route because northbound 26th is closed.  Instead of turning on 26th, the 120 continues west on Roxbury, then turns right onto 35th, then right again onto Barton, where it heads eastbound back to its regular routing.

    • Helpermonkey September 18, 2021 (10:30 pm)

      So weird, because I saw a C line bus headed westbound down 100th on the 21 route right around the time this happened. It would have been right around 12:20. 

    • MICHAEL A ATKINS September 20, 2021 (2:27 pm)

      I heard that at least 6 riders filed claims with Bus Driver

  • Gill & Alex September 18, 2021 (1:07 pm)

    We were headed southbound on 8th Ave. S.W. at 12:20 and wondered why such heavy traffic.  Now we know!I believe the 120 goes north on 35th since it cannot go northbound on 26th at this point due to road work.And thanks as always to WSB for keeping us up to date.

    • WSB September 18, 2021 (1:09 pm)

      Thank you! Good point. We mention/link the reroutes in morning traffic watch every day but I’ve never actually looked at the maps.

    • N7OEP September 18, 2021 (2:15 pm)

      Ah, that makes sense! Thanks!

  • johnson29 September 18, 2021 (1:09 pm)

    The 120 goes down 35th because of the closure on 26th Northbound in front of Westwood Village

  • Lisa September 18, 2021 (1:17 pm)

    Wondering if this is why Marginal is so incredibly backed up today. Or maybe it’s just the new normal?

  • Ken September 18, 2021 (2:54 pm)

    The C is clear. Here’s the damage. 

  • Jim P. September 18, 2021 (3:22 pm)

    Rough day for power line workers.Let’s be careful out there.

  • Bunnyfer September 18, 2021 (4:25 pm)

    We must have missed this accident by minutes – we live along 35th by Roxbury and went for a drive around 11:50, everything was just fine. According to the SCL linesman at the scene (as of 4:10pm) they are waiting for a pole, so estimate is 4-5 hours before power is back and road is open. I’m not surprised that this happened – over the course of driving to/from Arlington we saw so many accidents, from fender benders to serious I-5 closures. It’s a mess out there!!

  • Tiffany September 18, 2021 (7:26 pm)

    I live in the condos just above. It’s cleared and open now. 

    • WSB September 18, 2021 (7:43 pm)

      Thanks! I’ve been away from the desk for about half an hour and was just about to check again.

  • Walid September 19, 2021 (5:28 pm)

    Why is there a 🚲 on the ground beside the bus? I conclude that the sea lion was not in the accident it just got hit by the power lines and pole.

    • Jill September 19, 2021 (7:34 pm)

      yeah, what’s with the bicycle? the sea lion? Not sure what that is about. :D

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