WEST SEATTLE BRIDGE: When it reopens – how best to celebrate?

(WSB photo, January 8th)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Two months short of two years since the West Seattle Bridge closed, no date is set yet for its reopening, aside from “mid-2022.” SDOT‘s contract with the company fixing it, Kraemer North America, says they’re supposed to finish their work no later than June 30th. Testing will follow. And at some point around the reopening, a community celebration is expected (as we first noted in October). What kind of celebration? That’s up to the community – so a brainstorming session today officially kicked off the planning.

The West Seattle Chamber of Commerce and Junction Association convened a call with dozens of neighborhood advocates and businesspeople to invite ideas and to solicit volunteers for planning committees. The many ideas ran largely along two paths – celebrating the bridge itself, and welcoming visitors back to the peninsula. Celebrating the community members who’ve endured bridgelessness for two years should also be a goal, it was suggested. One big event? Multiple events? Merge the celebration with already-planned events like West Seattle Summer Fest, which is expected to return July 15-17, or the West Seattle Grand Parade, also likely to return this summer? Celebration on the bridge? Somewhere else, like a park or stadium or street? This was a “no bad ideas” type of conversation, so every suggestion and question was duly noted.

The executive directors of the WSCC and WSJA, Whitney Moore and Chris Mackay, said they’d had some preliminary conversations with SDOT, describing the department as “open” to possibilities, but with one big stipulation, which SDOT itself noted in October: The actual bridge reopening can’t be delayed in any way. If a celebration is planned on the bridge for a certain Sunday, for example, and the bridge is deemed ready to go on the preceding Friday, sorry, the bridge won’t wait, the WSCC and WSJA leaders say they were told. So that is a factor to consider. The only thing they said SDOT could say for sure in terms of a timeline is the same thing the city said in October – that they’ll know one month in advance.

P.S. Wondering if money is budgeted for a celebration? The WSCC and WSJA said no. (We are checking with SDOT to see if that goes for the city too.) So that could mean sponsors will be sought to cover any costs. That’s another reason why volunteer help is being sought now. If you’re interested in helping, contact WSJA or WSCC.

1994 January 24, 2022 (9:07 pm)

No celebration needed, give us a break and fill some potholes, repaint some stripes…. The opening of the bridge to traffic will be sufficient celebration.

WSB January 24, 2022 (9:10 pm)

As explained, this isn’t something the city is putting on. Unless you’re saying WSJA and WSCC should be filling potholes.
Tony January 24, 2022 (9:57 pm)

Couldn’t agree more. Monumental failures don’t get celebrated.
Plf January 24, 2022 (10:05 pm)

Wish energy was spent on something else other than let’s celebrate, take the money and give it to charity, I for one will be celebrating in my car when I can commute over, just open the bloody bridge,
Lew January 25, 2022 (2:11 pm)

Everybody just wants the bridge to open. Just take down the Closed/Detoursigns is a celebration and it will not cost any more money. The big question isWHEN will it be open.
Tea MacDonald January 25, 2022 (4:18 pm)

Agree. A news article on page 1 or 2 of the Seattle Times will be good, and it let folks know.

SuperAwesome January 24, 2022 (9:11 pm)

Happy to hear the bridge opening won’t be delayed to accommodate some race or on the bridge party or something. Open the thing as soon as possible, even in the middle of the night.Did they indicate how long the testing period is?

WSB January 24, 2022 (9:15 pm)

The briefing at the December task force meeting
https://westseattleblog.com/2021/12/yearning-for-more-details-on-west-seattle-bridge-repair-plan-see-what-contractors-project-manager-showed-the-community-task-force/
cited a “couple days” for “commissioning” once the work was done.

sw January 24, 2022 (9:14 pm)

Agreed. Skip the fanfare and open the bridge sooner. We do not need to have an “event” on the bridge that requires four miles of chain link fence to protect pedestrians. That’s just going to delay the opening further.

JB January 24, 2022 (11:10 pm)

Agreed, no celebration, just open it ON TIME. We’ve waited way to long as it is. In the mean time let’s get SDOT on the stick and fix the streets that are so full of pot holes!

onion January 24, 2022 (9:21 pm)

Being able to cross the bridge is all the celebration I need. Skip the party (which might be problematic from a public health standpoint anyway).

WSPK January 25, 2022 (7:39 am)

I’m going to buck the trend, and advocate for opening the bridge to bikes and pedestrians for a day if the timing works out. And really, what’s an extra day or two, especially on a weekend. As far as special activities, and thinking outside of the box here; bungee jumping? : )
- Bob January 25, 2022 (11:11 pm)
  
  Right on! 👍

AreYouKidding? January 24, 2022 (9:59 pm)

“No bad ideas”? A celebration is a bad idea. Totally agree with the commenters above…no celebration needed. Just open it.

DC January 25, 2022 (8:10 am)

Did no one read the post? 1) Any celebration would not delay the opening of the bridge. 2) No resources for planning the celebration would be taken from the people planning and repairing the bridge, it is a totally different department! I think it would be great to have a celebration on the bridge during one of the testing days. It’ll be the only time you’ll get be on the bridge outside of a car. It would be great to get together as a community, commemorate the hard times we went through, and celebrate a vibrant future for West Seattle.
- miws January 25, 2022 (9:18 am)
  
  Thank You, DC… —Mike
- Bob January 25, 2022 (11:13 pm)
  
  Right on! 👍

Midi January 24, 2022 (10:07 pm)

Since the bridge broke almost exactly the same time as the world shut down, part of me feels like the re-opening of the bridge marks the end of COVID. That would be a really nice celebration.

momosmom January 25, 2022 (6:33 am)

We could only wish the opening of the bridge would mean the end of Covid but we all know that is just a dream/nightmare. Agree with all others, no celebration or as PLF said use the party money on charity.
- momosmom January 25, 2022 (9:59 am)
  
  Or better yet split the party money to the small businesses that have had a very hard, hard time surviving!
  - TophWS January 25, 2022 (3:29 pm)
    
    There is no party money – there is no budget as per the article. If something was to be done, they’d need sponsorships. I suppose if you really want something for charity, you could turn it into a fund-raiser. I might be willing to make a donation for the chance to walk on the bridge and take some photos, since it’s a unique perspective for photos of the bay, the city, and the river valley.
HS January 25, 2022 (8:18 am)

What a great comment!!
Jimmy Nimbles January 25, 2022 (7:10 pm)

That coincidence always made me fight putting on a tinfoil hat. The amount of work being done doesn’t really support a “this thing is gonna crash immediately” narrative. And I get you err on the side of caution on this but I think we all questioned the delay to get work started. We needed to watch geothermals? Yeah there’s no software to model that…Again too many factors line up to not at least question. And now I’ll go ahead and recycle my helmet.

Eddie January 24, 2022 (10:20 pm)

Maybe everybody stuck in traffic backed up to Avalon from I5 could just honk their horns in celebration.

Lisa January 25, 2022 (7:20 am)

Thanks for the laugh 😂 You totally nailed it!

Charles Burlingame January 24, 2022 (10:21 pm)

It sounds like the “no party needed” people really support businesses in West Seattle, who are the primary beneficiaries of this non-city-organized event, it sounds like.

BigB January 24, 2022 (10:25 pm)

There should be a parade, bike ride, a run, and a big party!

M January 24, 2022 (10:31 pm)

I’ll just be thrilled with fewer aggressive drivers on Holden.

Dm January 25, 2022 (10:15 am)

Amen to that! I can’t wait to have our neighborhood back!
- Kathy January 25, 2022 (1:39 pm)
  
  I was gonna say, the people who should celebrate when it opens are those who had to endure the traffic during the detours. The bridge looks mighty peaceful now. When it opens it will be full of drivers speeding and creating excessive noise, air pollution, tire dust run off and exacerbating climate warming. Don’t burn fossil fuels unnecessarily if you care at all about our little planet. It may look big when you are on the surface, but as the astronauts say, it is a fragile little island in the vast universe.

Jort January 24, 2022 (10:37 pm)

Yay! Let’s celebrate the continued enablement of Seattle’s single greatest contribution to the destruction of our planet through global warming: more automobiles. Yay let’s have a big parade! Maybe we can bring in and display some of the species that will go extinct within our lifetimes because we insist on never deviating from the failed experiment of universal personal car ownership! Balloons and streamers for the catastrophic end of the holocene era! Make sure to give special treats to the children who will watch the world around them irrevocably change into an unrecognizable wasteland long after all the rest of us are dead! Let’s have a marching band to celebrate! So much fun YAY!

WS Guy January 24, 2022 (11:08 pm)

I agree with Jort. Big parade with balloons.
Jort's Therapist January 24, 2022 (11:45 pm)

I truly hope you can find happiness in your life Jort. Not everything is doom and gloom try focusing on something positive. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever read one of your posts that was upbeat and positive. The world is going to end for all of us at some point. You might as well try to enjoy your limited time here
- anonyme January 25, 2022 (7:58 am)
  
  Jort’s Therapist, I think your view is the one that’s upside-down. The changes that Jort supports benefit us all, and the world will end a lot sooner if those changes aren’t made. Your suggestion that we fiddle while Rome burns is fatalistic and far from positive. No need to attack the messenger. If you want to attack someone, make it smiling hypocrites like Joe Biden, who opened up the Gulf to oil and gas leases the day after returning from COP26.
- Jort January 25, 2022 (8:38 am)
  
  Gosh you’re right! I shouldn’t focus on the bad news, like how automobiles are one of America’s leading causes of death and serious injury, and how they’re forcing unsustainable sprawl into the environment, and the financial burdens they place on individual drivers and society as a whole, because it’s time to CELEBRATE! Let’s focus on the good news! We’ll be able to save 4 or 5 minutes on a drive to pick up more crap at Costco! YAY!! I think we need to have a big community party to celebrate but, wherever it is, make sure there’s enough parking!!!!!!!!! Let’s define our lives by our vehicles.
  - T. Snad January 25, 2022 (9:55 am)
    
    Jort for Mayor, yay!!!!
  - Team Jort January 25, 2022 (9:58 pm)
    
    Lol, you called it. There’s 2 comments –after yours, excited about resuming their ten minute drive to Costco. If that isn’t a cause for celebration, I don’t know what is.
anonyme January 25, 2022 (6:43 am)

Right again, Jort. I’m feeling you more and more. Another vote for NO celebration.
Derek January 25, 2022 (7:29 am)

Yeah never mind all the disabled/old people who need to use the bus to get to work more efficiently and quickly, right?
935 January 25, 2022 (8:00 am)

I for one LOVE reading Jort’s well thought out and tilting against windmills posts. Go gettem Jort!
save the bees January 25, 2022 (8:26 am)

A good opportunity for a climate crisis demonstration/protest?
LivesInWS January 25, 2022 (9:13 am)

So electric cars don’t need roadways, eh?
Poor Jort January 25, 2022 (1:37 pm)

I think once the celebration starts, Jort will show up on a bike super angry. Then something will come over Jort that makes his/her heart grow three sizes that day. A new feeling! Jort will crowd surf on the bridge as fireworks burst overhead. He/she will toss his/her bike off the bridge and hop into a brand new gas guzzling Corvette with the top down and head Westbound straight to Alki for a beer.

Vanessa January 24, 2022 (10:48 pm)

I’d love to ride a bike or walk across it and back. What’s one more day?

Kathy January 25, 2022 (2:11 pm)

As a person who (before the pandemic) biked from Alki to Beacon Hill for a class every week, I always thought, why couldn’t we have bike lanes and sidewalks on the West Seattle Bridge? At the exits and entrances there could be people activated signals for safe bike and pedestrian crossing. That would slow the car traffic down occasionally (when it isn’t already stopped in a traffic jam) so people are less likely to drive 90 mph burning fuel for no reason. Biking through SODO can be a nightmare and the climb getting up to Beacon Hill and over to the east side is horrendous, whereas the WS Bridge is already elevated. I know it’s OK with SOV enthusiasts that people riding bikes (or electric unicycles, scooters, skateboards, etc) have to detour for miles to get across I-5 and be shunted off the low-elevation arterials to the hillier greenways (I’m looking at you, 26th Ave SW where SDOT is asking people to ride because there “wasn’t room” for bike infrastructure on Delridge Way and where the neighbors fought safety improvements on the greenway for people biking). I’m 70 and want to keep biking to stay healthy and active instead of sitting sedentary in a car, but SDOT isn’t making it very easy.
- YES2WS January 26, 2022 (6:01 pm)
  
  @ Kathy.. No kidding. I’ve often thought this myself and have even contemplated the consequences of just cycling up that last little stretch to Columbian Way.

Josh January 24, 2022 (10:51 pm)

I for one want to walk down the bridge and celebrate. It will be 2+ years of pain, chaos and dealing with rude drivers on a daily basis.No longer will I curse at all the jerks cutting me off every day as I obey the laws waiting an extra 20 minutes only to watch a hundred cars merge last minute knowingly frustrating hundreds behind me as Marginal way bottlenecks into West Seattle.I get it, we all want it open… but we may only get one shot. I say a march down the bridge and show how much it impacted our lives. Give one day to send a message that never again will we tolerate a disaster as this again.

Lani January 25, 2022 (4:23 pm)

Here here! I live close and am looking forward to walking on the bridge like they let people onto the viaduct before it was torn down. Brings a sense of community, celebration, owning rights to have walked it, hopefully the end of COVID. I don’t think we need anything official planned.

zipda January 24, 2022 (11:00 pm)

I for one will celebrate not being cut-off every night coming home on Spokane westbound from cars that are too anxious to wait in the right lane.

Todd January 24, 2022 (11:01 pm)

Over-dramatize much?I have been a steadfast liberal my entire 53-year life, but it’s the extreme views like this that make me feel like I need to become a conservative. Not everyone can bike everywhere. Oy!

Adam January 25, 2022 (8:34 am)

There’s another choice: neither. And the great thing there is you don’t have to bounce back and forth when the team disappoints. Just don’t join a team, since it sounds like you’re already thinking for yourself. No need for parties if we don’t have to follow party lines religiously.

Robert J Schmidt January 24, 2022 (11:15 pm)

I’m going to take the 1st south bridge from Rat City and enter the peninsula via the the fixed bridge and head straight to the Yen Work for a bunch of Manhattans and an order of egg foo young. Support your local restaurant.

Partydown January 24, 2022 (11:21 pm)

Even if the world is ending and it would have been great if the bridge never broke anyone complaining about people coming together to celebrate really anything related to being a community really really ought to come to whatever is planned. You could use the socialization to remember, while imperfect, how truly great it is to be alive and together.Bike ride would be cool.

MikeVF January 24, 2022 (11:56 pm)

Yay!! Celebration of the bridge reopening is a great idea (assuming we’re doing public gatherings again by then)! Celebrations bring people together and build community, something we all benefit from.. Suffering through the closure and Covid has been hard on all of us in West Seattle and especially on our local businesses. Like many in Seattle I walked the viaduct when it closed and then the 99 tunnel when it opened. Reopening the WS Bridge and reconnecting our community with the rest of Seattle will be so much more impactful to this region and is definitely a cause for celebration! Thanks for letting us know about the planning.

Thd3 January 25, 2022 (12:09 am)

Open it – no celebration just open it a s a p

KBL January 25, 2022 (12:22 am)

No need to delay the opening with civic fanfare. On opening day, once everyone gets on the bridge to go to work and the traffic backs up to a standstill from cars cutting in from both sides at the last second, (just like in pre pandemic days), someone can just walk through the gridlock and hand out party hats and horns. Then we can toot our own horns all the way to the office.

E January 25, 2022 (12:51 am)

Please, just open the bridge. Just open the bridge.

WestSeattle January 25, 2022 (12:55 am)

They did their job..after years of neglecting to do their job. . Slow clap. Who comes up with these ridiculous ideas?

YES2WS January 25, 2022 (5:44 am)

Best line of the entire article – “If a celebration is planned on the bridge for a certain Sunday, for example, and the bridge is deemed ready to go on the preceding Friday, sorry, the bridge won’t wait.” Just open the frickn bridge as soon as it’s ready. A celebration following a major screw up that’s effected this community day after day for a couple of years is insulting.

Gina January 25, 2022 (6:49 am)

At this point I plan to carry an umbrella and watch for low flying pigs

Joan January 25, 2022 (7:12 am)

I would be interested in being able to walk on it just once. It’s a great view of the river that we never get. There is no pedestrian walk on it. The low bridge maybe, but the view is not the same. One day for people to walk on it, maybe just for a few hours anyway. No balloons or anything, just walkers. On the east coast, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge used to open one day a year, for a few hours, for people to walk across. In NY, there is a pedestrian walkway across the GW Bridge.

Fiz January 25, 2022 (9:33 am)

I’m voting with Joan!

Lisa January 25, 2022 (7:26 am)

I’d love to see a 5K run over the bridge (organized by West Seattle Runner?), with an entrance fee that benefits small businesses in West Seattle. They’ve all suffered so much, I’d love to send a message of support!

Lucy January 25, 2022 (7:27 am)

I certainly hope they are doing the regular maintenance that needs to be done, striping, power washing, fixing potholes and repaving the east end of the bridge, now, rather than making lane restrictions a couple months after reopening. And let’s just reopen. Being connected to the rest of the city will be fanfare enough IMO.

WSB January 25, 2022 (11:48 am)

Yes, that was discussed/reported previously. It’s part of the contract, to get various maintenance tasks done before the bridge reopens.

Derek January 25, 2022 (7:28 am)

I’d be happy if they took two lanes off and put in a train track and streetcar again. Better use of the bridge.

HS January 25, 2022 (8:22 am)

Same.

Sam January 25, 2022 (7:50 am)

Maybe the theme could be: “Celebrating the return of west seattle – Seattle’s original social distancers”

save the bees January 25, 2022 (9:08 am)

Some great ideas and funny comments here :)

Like the idea of the day before the bridge opening to cars, having a day of pedestrian and bike usage to bring folks together, to enjoy the view, and celebrate community.

Perhaps there is an opportunity to consider both the positive and negative impacts of such car infrastructure, while holding understanding that the bridge reopening will make life easier on many neighbors current day to day.

It is possible to both be concerned for the environment, and care about the stresses of modern life for neighbors of varying lifestyles and needs.

Improved pedestrian and bike access, more transit options, gondola and light rail, cannot come soon enough to help people commute easier and more responsibly!

Despite frustrations over the bridge closure, some appreciation for the hard work that has gone into the bridge being repaired, wouldn’t be a bad thing either.

JW January 25, 2022 (9:10 am)

We did the Tunnel Ride when the tunnel opened and my kids still talk about it– love it or hate it, the WS Bridge is part of our landscape and it’s a ton of fun, putting feet/bikes on asphalt when you’re used to experiencing it from the numbness of your car. Open it one day for walkers/runners/bikers. There won’t be (hopefully) another chance.

BrianS January 25, 2022 (9:15 am)

My “celebration” will be y’all going back to using the WSB

Sam January 25, 2022 (10:17 am)

I feel for you brother

Azimuth January 25, 2022 (9:40 am)

Bungee jumping!

WSB January 25, 2022 (10:09 am)

That’s one thing Whitney Moore of the WSCC said SDOT explicitly ruled out, sorry!
- AMD January 25, 2022 (11:32 am)
  
  Giant water slide!
  - Jeepney January 25, 2022 (11:48 am)
    
    YES to the water slide idea!!!

flimflam January 25, 2022 (9:58 am)

Kind of silly and unnecessary in my opinion but if it doesn’t delay the actual opening I guess (other than a waste of money, again, my opinion) there’s no harm.

Pamela January 25, 2022 (10:27 am)

I would rather money for a bridge celebration go towards social services, like the Food Bank or Senior Center in West Seattle or go towards funding of the West Seattle/HiYu Parade or Street Fair.

D and K January 25, 2022 (10:40 am)

It will be such a relief to be able to once again pull out of our driveway to the street, without a half mile backup of cars waiting to go down Highland Park Way everyday. Maybe open the bridge and have smaller celebrations around the area. Just having the bridge open again is celebration enough for many of us. Giddy!!😊

roddy January 25, 2022 (11:52 am)

A pedestrian/bike half-day; perhaps with a 5Krun that will give proceeds to small WS businesses; then open at sunset. The media coverage would be good PR to get the Puget Sound area’s awareness that WS is back! BTW, Thank you Derek, for your insight about diverse needs for transportation. And work hard as he__ for better Metro, light rail, cheaper electric cars, etc.

Thanks January 25, 2022 (11:58 am)

This is hilarious. Celebrate? The backup will be here on delridge again instead of highland, sorry you guys had to deal with what we have dealt with for years on the north end. The one lane should be interesting for drivers with their rage issues. I will miss the quiet we have had for the last two years, and the sound of birds that will be replaced by traffic at all hours.
Wasn’t the structural damage created by years of too many trucks and buses on the outer lanes of the bridge? Will they continue to use the lower bridge or go back up to the wsb? I think I also read a while back that the lower bridge is now having some structural damage from the trucks as well. Lets hope the repairs work and it doesn’t crumble down as thousands of cars and buses and trucks make their way over since they decided to cheap out here and not rebuild it. I will be freaked out every time I drive over it to get my crap at costco. This whole thread is hilarious. Why not just let people bungee jump too?

DJ Allyn January 25, 2022 (12:13 pm)

Celebration? Seriously? [insert expletive here]Why in the fertilizer should we celebrate a colossal failure? “Attaboy, SDOT!”They could — and should — open the bridge right now to metered traffic of just cars right now. There are other spans in the area that are in FAR worse condition structurally, including entire sections of I-5 through Seattle. (in case you didn’t know, I-5 is elevated all the way from Tukwila to just North of the U-District, and there is much of it that has been rated as “fair” to “poor” for the past ten years — yet they haven’t shut any of that down — yet)But holding the opening of that bridge by even fifteen minutes for a ‘celebration’ is not needed, nor is is wanted. If y’all want to hold a ‘celebration’, hold it somewhere else, and for a much better reason than celebrating the SDOT failures over the years to keep on top of bridge and road maintenance.Fix the pot holes that are swallowing up our cars right now. Stop all this nonsense about a ‘celebration’.

flimflam January 25, 2022 (1:01 pm)

I’m fairness, it doesn’t sound like DOT wanting to celebrate unless I’m reading it wrong…

Lisa January 25, 2022 (12:16 pm)

I look forward to the bridge being re-open. I miss it taking 10 minutes to get to Costco, Franz Bakery Outlet and taking my best friends dogs to Luther Burbank Dog Park. No offense, I like my car but the dog park in West Seattle is crime ridden. I’m thankful for little things too. Driving to first hill for work on a holiday and it taking 15 minutes. I’m also pretty sure my friends husband who works in Bellevue is excited about his commute too. I dream of Seattle having a van pool that targets night shifters and swing shifters.

Sh January 25, 2022 (12:26 pm)

Community streaking cross the bridge!

Friend O'Dinghus January 26, 2022 (3:55 am)

Combine the streaking idea with the giant waterslide idea and I am soooooo there!

skeeter January 25, 2022 (1:01 pm)

I will not be celebrating. I’m happy for all the folks who will be able to use the bridge to get where they need to go. But for the workers who have been getting to/from work on Harbor Island on bus there is frustration. When the busses return to the high bridge we lose our transit.

Joe Z January 25, 2022 (1:50 pm)

On the second or third day that the bridge closed in 2020, before they put up the fences, there was the opportunity to run across the high bridge starting from 35th. It might have been a fun time, or at least that’s what the rumor is. The views might have been excellent. It might have been a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that couldn’t be missed. Or so I heard.

Gaps in the fences might still be there this summer, after the work is complete and the holes in the deck are filled in. Just saying.

Patricia Davis January 25, 2022 (2:09 pm)

SDOT ignored the warning signs that the bridge needed support. Instead they destroyed The commute of 100,000 people per day! While they lowered the speed limits. Life was bad enough with Covid without S. Making it added hell! Absolutely no celebration and less it’s firing the head of SDOT

WSB January 25, 2022 (2:12 pm)

Maybe you missed the news last month. The new mayor is already looking for a new SDOT director.
- WS Res January 25, 2022 (7:24 pm)
  
  Perhaps there should be a short current events quiz before one is cleared to post comments on news items… 😂
  - WSB January 25, 2022 (8:32 pm)
    
    Some outlet somewhere actually tried that a few years back. Didn’t work very well.

DB January 25, 2022 (2:30 pm)

Celebrate inconvenience and incompetence?

Alli January 25, 2022 (2:31 pm)

Perhaps they should have polled the option to a) celebrate or b) complain more…no surprise it’s complain more by a long shot with regular commenters here. I moved to WS amidst the bridge closure so perhaps it’s my ignorance to the good old 10 minutes-to-Costco days. Now you just order your jumbo portions of stuff from Amazon I guess. But wow, the general negativity that abounds in this community about generally everything is astounding. Kudos to the people who look forward to a day to pause and celebrate addressing a massive critical public infrastructure need, even if it was past due.

22blades January 26, 2022 (8:14 am)

You want to “celebrate” something that shouldn’t have happened in the first place? Nothing like celebrating a failure. *Bridge user (all of them) since 1976*

Sillygoose January 25, 2022 (3:10 pm)

No need in more wasted expenses to have a formal celebration. I will honk my horn all the way across the damn thing when it finally opens that’s celebration enough!!! Get this bridge done so we can once again have a decent commute.

Cait January 25, 2022 (3:51 pm)

I like the idea of a small ‘marketing’ campaign that highlights West Seattle businesses that have been inconvenient to visit for mainlanders since the bridge closure. Possibly using the Restaurant Week model where individual businesses can choose to participate and they’re advertised collectively as participating. Places and Events that bring business to West Seattle: waterfront dining, Alki beach and its fire pits, Lincoln Park walks, our Junction farmers market, kayaking, others?

Admyrl Byrd January 25, 2022 (4:12 pm)

How about a block party in front of the Chelan Cafe to celebrate the now-empty 5-way intersection? Boost them and the community. Have one further south at the HP/WMW intersection with Subway and the Boat….

Kersti Muul January 25, 2022 (4:25 pm)

How about the revenue collected from the low bridge violators pays for some party cheese.

Snowskier January 25, 2022 (5:00 pm)

Save the party money and use it to grind down the speed bumps, fill in the potholes and offset the cost to put the Junction Light Rail into a tunnel.

No party poopers January 25, 2022 (5:12 pm)

Bring on the celebration! All you party poopers stay home. Bah humbug! Walking or biking the WSB would be fun, and mark an end of the “island” living.

Jennifer Hall January 25, 2022 (5:40 pm)

I would also love to walk on it! If it wouldn’t delay re-opening. Walking on the viaduct for a last time was such a blast! If that isn’t possible, I’d be up for an all day West Seattle pub crawl on a Saturday or Sunday. Going to a whole bunch of West Seattle bars and restaurants to raise some money for the troopers who weathered the Covid storm. Thank God for them all!

Ed January 25, 2022 (9:18 pm)

I agree, no celebration needed. People that want to celebrate and have some sort of a walk-a-thon or pub crawl aren’t the people that have added 2 hours commutes for two years. Honk when you drive on the bridge in celebration 🎉🎉🎉

Michael Bloom January 26, 2022 (1:51 am)

The celebration will be smiles for those who commute back and forth that do not have an option to take mass transit. Those smiles and cheers will be hear heard inside cars, trucks, and bus systems .