FOLLOWUP: Ramp repairs, day 4

| Safety | Transportation | West Seattle news

(WSDOT photos)

The Washington State Department of Transportation says its crew made more progress today toward repairing and reopening the ramp between the West Seattle Bridge and northbound Highway 99. It’s been closed since Tuesday night, when a 5′ x 4′ hole in the 64-year-old ramp caused tire blowouts for at least five drivers. WSDOT’s latest update: “Today we’ve poured concrete. It usually takes a few days for this type of concrete to cure properly in order to safely reopen the ramp.”

We’ll find out on Monday if that’s altered the schedule – originally announced as 10 days, which would mean reopening by next Saturday. In the meantime, your options for getting to Highway 99 are the 1st Avenue South Bridge or via the 1st Avenue exit on the eastbound bridge, leading you into SODO, where you can get onto 99.

Libra May 6, 2023 (11:23 pm)

Question: is the lower Spokane Street bridge to get to 99 not an option? Is the C using this route? Thanks!

UTurnKing May 8, 2023 (9:42 am)

There is a very interesting/sketchy but legal/effective way for vehicles that can make tight U-turns (i.e. not the C line) to use the low bridge to get to NB-99. It requires some imagination and hints from Google Maps. Unless the low bridge opens up, the commute is only delayed by 2-3 mins.

Monica Jae May 7, 2023 (6:44 am)

Still boggles my mind that DOT waited so long to fix this. Every north bound bus, truck & car have been hitting or avoiding it for months.

BlairJ May 7, 2023 (7:34 am)

There is no access to northbound 99 from Spokane Street during this repair. Both upper and lower bridges feed into this ramp. The C would have to take a detour.

Eddie May 7, 2023 (8:59 am)

Libra – No, there’s no access to northbound 99 from the low bridge during this ramp closure. And the C-line is being detoured to 1st Avenue (I believe).

A local May 7, 2023 (3:11 pm)

Even my trail jeep with the massive tires had to avoid that thing or get shaken, and normally pot holes dont bother it at all.It just weirds me out that they waited so long to fix it- wouldnt it have been easier to close the ramp for a couple days when it was smaller a few months ago instead of having to close it for a week and a half?

Mark P May 7, 2023 (5:43 pm)

Here’s a picture of the repaired section from below:

Mark P May 7, 2023 (5:44 pm)

Another pulled back shot:

WSB May 7, 2023 (5:47 pm)

Thanks!
Derek May 8, 2023 (10:13 am)

Yikes @ all those cracks!!!

Marvela May 8, 2023 (6:56 am)

Seattle: pay us more taxes
also Seattle: we aren’t fixing anything until there’s an actual 2 foot hole in it that destroys your cars.

KM May 8, 2023 (12:29 pm)

This isn’t a SDOT roadway or project.

wseagles224 May 8, 2023 (7:58 am)

Can they just continue to re-pave the rest of the shame of a bridge we have? The entire bridge is filled with potholes and chunks of concrete!

Bsmart May 8, 2023 (8:48 am)

Looks like more repairs are needed! That is a PILE of cracks visible from the bottom and cracks lead to failure!

Mark P May 8, 2023 (11:50 am)

I’ll add that I saw transverse cracks like the ones in the above picture in pretty much every section on that ramp. This won’t be the last repair job needed, it’s only a matter of time until another hole forms. Bonus picture of the repaired section that was done last year:

Amy Thomson May 8, 2023 (10:52 am)

That whole viaduct needs resurfacing. They missed an opportunity to fix it when the bridge was closed!

WSB May 8, 2023 (11:07 am)

It’s planned, as we reported some months back. We’ll have a followup a bit later today with where that project stands.
- whataboutthecreedance May 8, 2023 (11:21 am)
  
  I’ll be interested to hear more about this. It’s needed for sure!

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