UPDATE: West Seattle low bridge back in service after hours of ‘electrical problems’

(Added: WSB photo, stuck-open low bridge seen from West Marginal)

5:04 PM: Thanks for the tips. We’re still waiting to hear back from SDOT about why the West Seattle low bridge has been open – and therefore closed to surface vehicle traffic – for more than an hour. In the meantime, use an alternate route, or delay your trip.

5:06 PM: SDOT says the low bridge is having “electrical problems.”

5:13 PM: SDOT says electricians are there but no ETA for repairs yet. Remember, in case it helps, the Water Taxi is running later tonight because of the Coldplay concert at Lumen Field.

7:39 PM: No official update from SDOT but the live camera shows the bridge is back open to surface traffic again. We will follow up tomorrow.

sam September 20, 2023 (5:55 pm)

why does the bridge never break close ?

WSB September 20, 2023 (6:01 pm)

It has had breakdowns either closed or almost-closed.

Casey September 20, 2023 (7:43 pm)

So frustrating. It sucks to bike home only to get stuck at this bridge. Is there a way to receive SMS or email notifications if the bridge is malfunctioning? Seems to happen often enough. It would be nice to know to put the bike on a bus downtown before finding out when getting to the bridge.

WSB September 20, 2023 (7:54 pm)

They didn’t acknowledge it on Twitter/X – the usual alert mechanism – until after we emailed SDOT’s media team at 4:53 pm to ask, though apparently according to auto-tweets the bridge had been open since before 3:30 pm. Since there was no alert, I didn’t hear about it until two reader tips at 4:40 (and then a few minutes of watching the live video feed to be sure it really was out of service).

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