TRAFFIC ALERT: West Marginal Way blocked after crash brings down power lines

2:07 AM: West Marginal Way is blocked by downed power lines near Front Street (just north of Highland Park Way). According to police, they came down when a driver flipped a Tesla, likely because of racing involving at least two other cars. Officers have told dispatch the Tesla was unoccupied when they arrived, but seriously damaged. They’ve summoned City Light to deal with the downed lines, and the closure might last for hours.

2:28 AM: The traffic-camera screenshot shows where the street is blocked. City Light isn’t on scene yet, police are telling dispatch.

9 AM NOTE: We’re updating the closure in our morning traffic report.

2:56 PM: West Marginal is finally reopening.

22blades June 16, 2025 (4:47 am)

That’s quite the effort to flip a multi-ton Tesla. Well, one less Muskmobile. Going to the airport, we had to double back all the way to the high span & I5.

Olive June 16, 2025 (9:02 am)

Dreadful vehical. Dreadful man.
bill June 16, 2025 (2:34 pm)

Full Self Destruct engaged.

Dale June 16, 2025 (5:23 am)

425am…would have been nice to have sign at Spokane and West Marginal that road is closed

Derp June 16, 2025 (8:11 am)

Sdot isn’t up at those hours.
WS Native June 16, 2025 (9:21 am)

Agreed. Seems like there could have been some Road Closed Ahead signage at the intersection by the Chelan Cafe where you could make a choice of alternate route. I don’t usually check the blog or traffic before leaving for work, but I guess I should.
- bill June 16, 2025 (1:02 pm)
  
  There is a sign now. AFTER YOU HAVE GONE THROUGH THE INTERSECTION.
  - WS Resident June 16, 2025 (2:34 pm)
    
    Ditto…just was a victim of this myself

Marcus June 16, 2025 (7:46 am)

Time for live feed cameras on west marginal.

WSB June 16, 2025 (8:58 am)

The cameras at WMW/HPW do have live feeds. Unfortunately, they’re not embeddable.
Amy June 16, 2025 (12:21 pm)

Not sure why someone would run away from their Tesla. Those things have cameras all over them.
- WSzombie June 16, 2025 (9:44 pm)
  
  @Amy
  
  Cameras-yes
  
  Toxicology tests-no

Frank June 16, 2025 (7:51 am)

Hi,Does anyone know when this road will reopen?

commuter June 16, 2025 (8:23 am)

8:00, still no signage as you travel south on West Marginal that the road is closed ahead. Lots of people driving all the way south, doing u-turns, and driving back north all the way to Chelan Cafe to get on the high span.

Highland Park Resident June 16, 2025 (8:37 am)

My wife just drove by and said a tourist bus was stuck at the bottom of the Highland Park Way hill, so it seems the whole area is a disaster at the moment.

WSB June 16, 2025 (8:52 am)

I got a text that it was up at the top of the hill “across from the bird sculpture” …
tacocat June 16, 2025 (9:21 am)

The tourist bus is really stuck, but doesn’t seem to be impacting traffic too much.
- WSB June 16, 2025 (9:29 am)
  
  As noted in the traffic roundup, a tow truck is reported to have arrived.

Commuter June 16, 2025 (8:52 am)

Still closed at 8:50, seems very odd not to have any notice at Spokane that it’s closed!

WSB June 16, 2025 (9:16 am)

Just FYI we’re updating the closure in the morning traffic report. Latest is that a new pole has just arrived, so this apparently won’t be reopening very soon.

Lewie_lewie June 16, 2025 (12:33 pm)

Still closed. Still no signage before you get all the way there. Ridiculous. The big rigs having to turnaround Ewing the rest of the traffic is going to cause an accident. Real smart SDOT. 🙄

Monica Cavagnaro June 16, 2025 (12:35 pm)

Just drove by. Still closed at 12:35PM

WSB June 16, 2025 (1:35 pm)

same an hour later, per the city’s live camera.

AJ June 16, 2025 (1:18 pm)

This is becoming to easy. I like to guess if the driver stayed or not. I now guess 100% the driver left the scene before even reading the article. I got it right again. Absolutely horrible what’s happening to out society.

B June 16, 2025 (1:45 pm)

I wonder if waste management is affected since the transfer station is so close to this? Our garbage / yard waste is usually picked up by now, but not yet today.

Chelle June 16, 2025 (1:52 pm)

I’m a flight attendant, and left to go to the airport at 945am. There was no sign. They should have posted a sign by then if it happened in the middle of the night.. I had to double all the way back. Luckily I made my work flight, but it was close.

WSB June 16, 2025 (2:55 pm)

Reopening after 13 hours.

Jissy June 16, 2025 (4:15 pm)

I’m really curious if SPD or SCL will dig into ownership of this vehicle and hold them responsible for the cost involved with all this utility work. Assuming it wasn’t stolen.