TRAFFIC, TRANSIT, WEATHER: Thursday watch

6:03 AM: Good morning! It’s Thursday, October 5th.

WEATHER AND SUNRISE/SUNSET TIMES

Patchy morning fog, then sunny, high in the mid-60s. Sunrise today is at 7:13 am; sunset, 6:40 pm.

(Wednesday night sunset, photographed by Theresa Arbow-O’Connor)

HIGH-BRIDGE LANE-CLOSURE ALERT

SDOT announced Wednesday that it’s doing daily “preventive maintenance” on the high bridge through Tuesday (October 10th), with lane closures – one each way, westbound 6 am-3 pm, eastbound 9 am-3 pm

2 DAYS TO LOW-BRIDGE CLOSURE

We’re reminding you daily that the West Seattle low bridge will be closed to surface traffic (motorized vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians) this Saturday (October 7) through Saturday, October 14, as SDOT announced last week. The closure will start at 12:01 am Saturday, SDOT tells us.

TRANSIT TODAY

Metro – Regular schedule; check advisories here.

Water Taxi – Regular schedule.

Washington State Ferries – 2-boat service on the Triangle Route. Check alerts for changes, and use Vessel Watch to see where your ferry is.

SPOTLIGHT TRAFFIC CAMERAS

Delridge cameras: Besides the one below (Delridge/Henderson), cameras are also at Delridge/Genesee, Delridge/Juneau, Delridge/Orchard, and Delridge/Oregon.

High Bridge – the main camera:

High Bridge – the view from its southwest end (when SDOT points the 35th/Avalon/Fauntleroy camera that way):

Low-bridge cam:

1st Ave. S. Bridge – alternate route across the river:

Highway 99: – northbound side at Lander:

MORE TRAFFIC CAMS: See all working traffic cams citywide here, most with video options; West Seattle and vicinity-relevant cameras are on this WSB page.

BRIDGE INFO: The @SDOTBridges feed on Twitter/X shows whether the city’s movable bridges are opening for vessel traffic.

If you see trouble on the bridges/streets/paths/bay, please text or call us (when you can do it safely, and after you’ve reported to authorities). Thank you!

JTinWS October 5, 2023 (10:36 am)

That one lane eastbound closure is pretty confusing! They have coned off the entire right lane up and down the bridge itself, up to but not including the 99 exit. So there’s no legal way to get to the 99 ramp for anyone but buses, and anyone climbing the eastbound bridge would expect the 99 exit to be closed based on these cones.Nonetheless, plenty of drivers including myself eventually when I realized what was going on, were using the bus lane to get over to 99. I think this is what SDOT intended but it’s not clear. It has triggered a stop and go backup from 1st Ave back to the apex of the bridge.It would really clear things up to post signs saying “ramp to NB 99 open. All cars may use bus lane.” As it is, if you’re used to being a bus lane cheat, you’ll have no problem navigating this lane closure; if you’re used to staying out of bus lanes, you’ll be punished by getting stuck in gridlock and have the option to make a dangerous merge into the speeding downhill traffic in the bus lane to reach 99. Thanks SDOT!

Lorne October 5, 2023 (2:52 pm)

Used high bridge to I5 this morning 10am. Elevated section reduced by shoulders and -1 lane. Then viaduct section reduced to 1 lane for pothole repair. Why on earth did SDOT schedule this concurrent with low bridge closure? Did they LEARN NOTHING from 2 1/2 year closure?