Bridge rage

Continuing today’s unplanned “in other blogs” theme … beware the F-bombs if you are sensitive, but that said, if you drive the WS bridge, you might identify with this driver’s fury.

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29 Replies to "Bridge rage"

  • ML September 12, 2007 (11:26 am)

    The F-bomb blogger definitely has a point.
    Drive at the posted speed at your peril or keep up with the flow and get a ticket–and one cannot drive southbound on Admiral towards the WS bridge at 30 mph without riding brakes the whole way.

    Have heard there are (at least) three driving speeds: the design speed of the road, the posted speed of the road; and the speed drivers go!

  • CTK September 12, 2007 (11:59 am)

    Yeah, I actually wrote to the Times (or PI?) and asked their “ask a police officer” column about the speed on the bridge. I mentioned the posted speed limit and then the safety of “keeping up with traffic” issue.

    But after that blog post I guess I have my answer…which really sucks. Going the speed limit DOES feel unsafe…I’m just glad I ride the bus to and from work, at least I only have to play on the bridge on the weekends.

  • Sage K September 12, 2007 (1:01 pm)

    I can totally relate. When I cross the seriously narrow 2 lane 35mph section of the bridge, I always feel unsafe, between the huge trucks, the barriers and the speeding cars. I can’t safely go the speed limit. Ton’s of cars zoom down that stretch at 50mph and if your only doing the posted speed. They tailgate, honk or zoom around you. And it doesn’t get any better when the bridge opens up more lanes and the posted speed is 45mph. Most cars are doing somewhere between 55-60mph. And even when I’m completely to the right “the slow lane” just to do the speed limit, cars are drive right on my tail and then whipping around past me. The West Seattle Bridge DEFIANTLY has a problem with post speed vs. flow of traffic!

  • The Incredible Delridge Machine September 12, 2007 (1:11 pm)

    I’m mostly a bus rider too, but having a manual transmission sure does help navigate all these West Seattle speed traps, especially the long stretch of 30 MPH Admiral Way! When will all these Lexus SUV drivers learn that there is almost always a cop waiting to ticket them at these two spots daily and no checkered flag at the end of the race they always seem to be trying to win?

  • m September 12, 2007 (2:31 pm)

    the section of the bridge that is 35 mph is actually the Spokane Street Viaduct. I’m just glad there is a dividing barricade on that stretch of road; I thought years ago there wasn’t one? At least it’s safer than it used to be! :)

  • Aidan Hadley September 12, 2007 (2:34 pm)

    I recall a number of years ago in Massachusetts that a man was able to successfully argue his way out of a ticket because he made an argument that the speed limit established a section of road was inconsistent with what was appropriate given its engineering. The wide section of the West Seattle Bridge (westbound) is absolutely sufficiently engineered for better than 45 mph. But I can see that speed being appropriate for the eastbound side as there is that tricky “X” interchange between cars getting on from Admiral and people in the left lanes of the bridge needing to get over to the right to get on 99.

  • Huindekmi September 12, 2007 (2:59 pm)

    It wasn’t that long ago that it was called the West Seattle Freeway in places. The name was changed on all the road signs under the belief that the name “freeway” made people want to drive faster.

  • Lou September 12, 2007 (3:01 pm)

    OK…first, maybe this blogger has a point, but his grammar is horrible. Maybe an ESL issue but words and spelling were correct so I’m not convinced that was the case. Anyway, my point being is that I don’t necessarily believe their story about getting at ticket only @ 45mph. Whether he was going faster, driving erratically (like his grammar), or doing 45 when everyone was doing 30…I don’t know, but something seems fishy with this bloggers entry. I guess I’d like to know the ‘other’ side of why he got a ticket…since I don’t believe you will get a ticket at 45mph on the bridge if you were going with the flow of traffic.

    Anyway, I know I do 45 to 50 on the bridge…generally most people are going this speed and I feel safer doing that than I would if I were to drive 35 on the bridge. While I honk at a lot of people, I don’t honk at people doing the speed limit (maybe cuss but not honk).

  • Hainsworth September 12, 2007 (3:38 pm)

    @ Comment by m:
    Thank you for pointing out the name distinction. The West Seattle Bridge is just that — the bridge.

    Does everyone remember when it was still called the West Seattle Freeway? You can still see evidence of the old name in the newer “Bridge” text on the I-5 exit signs.

    If memory serves, the speed limit on the West Seattle Freeway used to be even slower. There’s a photo of the speed limit sign on the span being changed sometime in the 1980’s from 40 MPH (I believe), which you can find in your copy of West Side Story. I don’t have one handy or I’d post the page number.

    Can anyone here remember the reason behind the original, lower speed limit on the WS Freeway?

    I do remember that the name change from Freeway to Bridge was intended to discourge people from driving at freeway speeds.

  • A.A. September 12, 2007 (3:40 pm)

    My issue with the bridge isn’t the speed; it’s the horrendous interchange mentioned above where folks are getting onto the bridge from Delridge and Admiral, others are getting off onto 99, and nobody will let anyone else in.

    I drive this stretch daily. Unfortunately it seems that very few people realize that if you’re the car in the rear, regardless of which lane you’re in, if you allow the front car next to you to merge in front of you, and then you’ll have plenty of space to merge the other direction. Cutting someone off from behind is counterproductive.

  • herongrrrl September 12, 2007 (4:22 pm)

    I don’t recall the speed on the “freeway” (I still call it that, force of habit) being lower, I remember it being a bit higher. Then there was some really horrible accident involving a head-on collision and several deaths, and they put up the jersey barrier down the middle and posted the 35mps speed limit. IIRC, it was at least 45 mph all the way to I-5 before that.

    But then, I’ve also been around here long enough to remember when the WS bridge was 2 old green 2-lane drawbridge spans (where were you when the ship hit the span?), after which you drove up a ramp to get onto the Spokane Street Viaduct…maybe in those days the speed limit on the viaduct was slower?

  • Oliver September 12, 2007 (4:59 pm)

    I agree with Lou, something’s fishy. There’s not a whole lot of traffic to be “keeping up with” at 12:30. That’s why the police caught him. It’s tempting to speed through when it’s wide open, but at that point you’re just speeding, not keeping up with traffic.

    I hear Lou likes to speed in his mini-van.
    BTW, Lou – aren’t you supposed to be working?

  • Joeyjojojo September 12, 2007 (6:00 pm)

    I received a speeding ticket on the bridge returning from my Labor Day weekend camping trip. Whether you were just keeping up with traffic or not didn’t matter, the police were out in full force that day! When I pulled off the bridge there were five other drivers pulled over in front of me and two more pulled in behind me as I was waiting for my ticket! I was indeed speeding and will pay the fine but hope all the money made that day might help fix a few potholes somewhere so i can continue speeding safely!

  • Gina September 12, 2007 (6:45 pm)

    When you were on the east side of the old green bridges there were train tracks right at the foot. If you hit them at the right speed you could bounce to the ceiling of the car. In the days before seatbelt laws for kids.

    I would think that the lower speed was to keep from breaking the shocks on all the tracks there were to cross. And to look for trains. And to stop for the bridge when it was up every 20 minutes or so during rush hour. And the endless trains. I remember that my dad would take the back route through Georgetown quite often.

  • Ron Burgundy September 12, 2007 (8:20 pm)

    What I don’t understand is when getting on the bridge westbound from 99, so many people who are coming from the Spokane Street viaduct are so eager to get in the right lane as soon as possible rather than wait a little further up the bridgedeck. They’re supposedly going 35 mph. Then you come off of 99, you are getting ready to go 45 mph. I am constantly cut off by a driver going less than the speed limit. You have .6 miles from the onramp off of 99 to the Delridge offramp, plenty of time to make a safe lane change while traveling with the speed of traffic.

  • The House September 12, 2007 (8:39 pm)

    The whining about speed in this town is pathetic. The speed limit should be higher on the bridge and what’s even more ridiulous are the 55MPH limits on the Interstates around here (like between Seattle and Everett or Tacoma and Olympia).

    Travel in most other large cities and the slow people go 65mph.

    It’s nothing more than a way for the city and state to raise $$$

  • JK September 12, 2007 (8:56 pm)

    I believe he got a ticket doing that speed. I have witnessed two separate days, one being labor day, when the police where out there in a few different spots. I saw one policeman standing behind a barrier of the unused entrance to the bridge. He was leaning on it and holding a radar gun. Then, there were two squad cars parked behind him. After that, I saw two additional cops driving the span of the bridge. They are out to break our lead footed habits for sure!

  • misty September 12, 2007 (9:03 pm)

    I totally agree with you, Ron Burgundy! That is my pet peeve on the bridge…..what’s the rush to get to the right lane?!

  • JE September 12, 2007 (11:37 pm)

    People will ignore the 35mph speed limit until the next horrible fatal accident on the bridge; then we’ll have a few weeks when everybody slows down and the police actually enforce the limit. Then people will gradually forget, and we’ll be back to this state of affairs, where only those of us whose long-term memory is unimpaired will keep to the speed limit, and the city will fail to enforce it until the next fatal accident… etc.

  • willamina c. September 13, 2007 (10:29 am)

    Actually, the speed limit in Washington in urban areas is 60, not 55, as The House put it. Has been since, uh, 1996? (I think it was ’96 because that’s about when Lacey stopped being such a heinous speedtrap…anyone remember those “Lacey Sucks” t-shirts?) As people go 5 over, they are going 65. Works for me.

    What gets me is the Seattle to Tacoma drive at 65mph. I do it frequently, and i go about nuts trying not to speed. It reminds me very much of the WS Freeway, the worst part of my daily commute to work because i’m almost there, and yet i have to go 35 or 45 to avoid being a target for the cops, and yet i get to deal with 45-second-long blasts of horn from people behind me. I can’t afford how badly a ticket would mess my life up (my insurance would go up $200 every 6 months, the ticket’s over a hundred bucks…) and i really have come to hate it and i’m scared sooner or later someone’s gonna run me over.

  • flipjack September 13, 2007 (10:39 am)

    35 miles per hour is completely and utterly unreasonable if you are an alert and conscientious driver. 50 to 55 mph is a more balanced speed. As long as you aren’t tailgating or driving under the influence there is no reason for a huge fatal accident. I can understand if you are a zombie wanting to drive at 35 mph on the bridge. Why do you think most people drive at 50 + mph? Because it’s a more comfortable and safer speed to drive. I’d be falling asleep at the wheel or more apt to fiddle with my electronic gadgets if I was driving that speed on the bridge. Like the previous poster said it’s just a way for the city to make money giving out tickets.
    I do believe he got the ticket. My pregnant wife (who NEVER drives fast) got a ticket going 40 mph in a 35 mph zone on a little stretch on Aurora by the Greenlake crosswalk, so don’t think the police won’t be jackin you for a minor offense. (rest of comment deleted at poster’s request)

  • Andre September 13, 2007 (11:03 am)

    It’s great to know that law enforcement is finally cracking down on cell phone usage while driving! Too many times I got nearly hit by someone holding a phone in one hand (and a coffee in the other…).

  • willamina c. September 13, 2007 (11:21 am)

    Uhhh…not really.

    First of all, the violation of an HOV lane as stipulated in RCW 46.61.165, per CLJIRLJ 6.2, is $124. If you don’t want to do the heavy lifting, http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/HOV/HeroFAQ.htm has the goods, too.

    Same thing for an improper lane change, as stipulated by RCW 46.61.110,.115,.120,.125,.130…more like 42 bucks, again see CRJIRLJ 6.2. Oh, that not using your turn signal when changing lanes were so much of a sting!

    Improper lane usage, which is what travelling on the shoulder is, RCW 46.61.140…$42. I’d tell you the source again but that’d be repetitive.

    DUH, you’ll be arrested for a DUI. Also, you’re a moron for even trying, and i am annoyed that you get your driver license back after doing something so cosmically stupid and irresponsible.

  • Deena September 13, 2007 (11:28 am)

    The police were out in force giving tickets on Labor Day weekend on our route to/from West Seattle. My brother just arriving from Eastern WA also received a ticket for 45 in a 35.
    I’ve been pulled over at the Admiral/Spokane St. onramp to eastbound West Seattle Bridge so beware.

    Note that the cell phone usage while driving has passed but does not take effect until July 2008. The list above is from an email that’s been circulating with incorrect information. Here’s an article from the Times with the correct info:

    http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/bumperconnection/2007/07/20/

  • flipjack September 13, 2007 (11:32 am)

    ahhhh…I guess I was the recipient of falsified information via some e-prank….God am I getting that stupid??…. I thought those were rather high fines…. Thanks for the corrections willamina c. …Hey WSB!! can you delete that part of my post for me?? Damn I feel like an ass.

  • Jan September 13, 2007 (2:20 pm)

    am I wrong, or are people above talking about 2 different things? The speed limit on the BRIDGE is 45MPH…the speed limit once you OVER THE BRIDGE and in the Spokane Street corridor is 35MPH. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone but maybe a little ol’ lady/man going 35 on the bridge. And coming westbound from I-5 to the bridge, the speed limit goes up to 45 before you hit the bridge, about where the exit to Harbor Island is that most of the trucks take. I pick up my speed there so I’m going fast enough to merge into traffic…how difficult is that?

  • willamina c. September 13, 2007 (2:46 pm)

    eh, don’t feel too bad, though i am still having pleasant dreams of a huge ol’ fine for not using your turn signal when you change lanes or turn. :)

    and yeah, that stretch of Aurora in Greenlake is heinous. i live in Lake City and work in West Seattle and often, when driving, take 99 home in the afternoon and that stretch makes me want to pull my hair out.

  • Dis September 14, 2007 (3:58 am)

    and the rest of us will never know why flipjack feels like an ass……………(must have something to do with driving in the shoulder of the HOV lane without using a turn signal, after consuming five beers, right?)

  • Cassell September 15, 2007 (9:25 am)

    I agree with bennett. A couple of weeks ago while driving over the bridge at the posted 45mph, we were tailgated for some time by a woman in a minivan. We were in the “slow” right hand lane. Fustrated, she violently swerved into the TRANSIT ONLY lane to pass, and then turned to look at us and flipped us off ??? Also, Highland Park drive has the same problem. After “keeping up with traffic” and getting a speeding ticket, I religously drive the posted 30mph speed limit, and there is no end to the tailgating. I’d love to hear the excuse from these tailgaters. Just because the speed limit “should” be higher is no excuse!

Sorry, comment time is over.