CLOSURE ALERT: West Seattle low bridge closing ‘for about one week’ later this month

The West Seattle low bridge’s long-anticipated control/communication-system upgrade is about to happen – and when it does, later this month, the bridge will close to surface use – driving, riding, rolling, walking, running, etc. – “for about one week,” according to this announcement today from SDOT, though the exact dates aren’t finalized yet:

Spokane St Swing Bridge (low bridge) control and communications system upgrades scheduled for April 19-28, 2024
Anticipated one-week closure during this time

Planning, design, and construction for the initial phase of the Spokane St Swing Bridge Rehabilitation Program took place from 2020 to 2022. Subsequent phases of this work will continue into 2025. The work taking place in April 2024 will be to upgrade the current control and communications system.

The control system activation work taking place in April will require rerouting the control tower wires from the high bridge to a new conduit beneath the West Duwamish Waterway.

From April 19 through April 28, crews will reroute the control tower wires from the high bridge to a new conduit beneath the West Duwamish Waterway that connects to the motors that open and close the bridge. This operation will require closing the low bridge for people driving, biking, and walking for about one week. We will share more details about the timing of this upcoming closure as planning efforts continue.

To support travelers impacted by the closure, and to help make transit access easier and more affordable, we’ve partnered with King County Metro to make it even easier to ride the bus or West Seattle Water Taxi  with Transit Go Tickets throughout the closure. This offer will provide a daily round trip over the Duwamish while the bridge is closed. To access the offer, follow the directions below using the Transit Go Ticket app and rewards code LOWBRIDGE24. This code will become active on April 19, 2024. The fares are funded by the Seattle Transit Measure, which was passed by voters in 2020. 

Admiral-2009 April 6, 2024 (12:07 pm)

Three items

1. Was the closure coordinated with the Port of Seattle to avoid major loading unloading activity?

2. The timing of the closure, why was it not done in the middle of the Winter to reduce impact to bike riders, with longer days and better weather there are more people riding bikes now?

3. Are affected bike riders going to be provided free use of the Water Taxi?

WSB April 6, 2024 (9:34 pm)

Regarding your last question, it’s in the story.
Jay April 7, 2024 (7:36 am)

1. SDOT hopefully is coordinating with the Coast Guard to minimize any impact to shipping as the Coast Guard is who governs the waterway and not the Port.2. there are many possible reasons the work is starting this month: parts weren’t in yet, approval had not been given by the city to start work, prep work was needed to be done before this work could be started. Also the railroad has been doing major construction most of the winter so they would probably have been in the way of this work or vice versa.while this really sucks for pedestrians and bike riders, we need to maintain our bridges and we have just been kicking the can down the road for too long.

Admiral-2009 April 6, 2024 (10:06 pm)

Thank you I missed that item.

Kathy April 7, 2024 (1:16 pm)

Last time they did this, we got a bike lane on 1st Ave S. to create a safe infrastructure for people biking into town. These closures demonstrate that we are way overdue for safe bike infrastructure throughout SODO.

Eddie April 8, 2024 (4:32 pm)

Notification of this upcoming closure needs to be bumped repeatedly to give people fair warning it is coming. As of Sunday April 7th, there are not any signs near the bike/pedestrian path at either end of the bridge announcing the impending closure.

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