West Seattle, Washington
30 Saturday
(King County video)
Four and a half years after construction began by the north end of the 1st Avenue South Bridge, the Georgetown Wet Weather Treatment Station is ready to be put into operation. Next big rainstorm, the King County Wastewater Treatment Division says, the quarter-billion-dollar facility [map] will start treating stormwater that otherwise would overflow, untreated, directly into the Duwamish River. Though it’s ready to do that job, the facility does have a little more work ahead, according to today’s announcement: “King County will install art features early next year. One will light up the facility as water moves through the treatment process. Another will recreate rain events inside a 35-foot-high clear cylinder.” Meantime, as we’ve been reporting, KCWTD has another facility in the works to protect the Duwamish River – a 1.25-million-gallon overflow storage tank in southeast West Seattle, near the south end of the 1st Avenue South Bridge. The West Duwamish Wet Weather Storage Facility is being designed right now and expected to start construction in 2025.
(SPD photo, March 24th)
The West Seattle Bridge closure detours have linked the peninsula and Duwamish Valley communities – South Park, Georgetown – more closely than ever. Two weeks ago, we reported on a deadly crash in Georgetown, in which a 54-year-old man riding a bicycle was hit and killed by a semi-truck driver. Today community members are organizing a ride in the victim’s memory. From the announcement:
Georgetown residents have organized a Community Ride “Critical Mass” bike ride event, (after a) vehicle-related fatality which took place March 24th. The meetup is at 4:00 pm, Friday, April 9th, in the parking lot of the Georgetown Campus of South Seattle College, 6737 Corson Ave S. This event will be a legal and peaceful 1 1/2-hour ride on public streets, highlighting the dangers of biking in the Georgetown neighborhood.
The event organizers aim to:
–Remind drivers in an area of both heavy vehicles and heavy traffic that they need to share the road;
–Remind the city and the community that biking in and through Georgetown is dangerous and scary
–Ask city leaders that Georgetown improvements are prioritized and centered for bike infrastructure, especially as we experience West Seattle Bridge detour traffic
–Create a safe space to bike in and around our community
The ride was announced at two local meetings in the past three days – District 1 Community Network on Wednesday and West Seattle Bridge Community Task Force on Thursday, which also had a moment of silence both for the victim in this crash and for the scooter rider killed on Beach Drive last week.
5:57 PM: Thanks to the texter who points out that this will affect people who use Michigan in Georgetown to get between I-5 and the 1st Avenue South Bridge: A deadly crash has closed Corson/Michigan and it’ll likely stay closed for a few hours. Police say the crash involved a semi-truck and pedestrian.
8:16 PM: All lanes are clear. Commenters who were in the area say the victim was a bicycle rider, not a pedestrian; we will update when police release more information about the crash.
ADDED THURSDAY MORNING: As noted in comments, SPD Blotter now has a summary, including confirmation that the victim was riding a bike when hit.
(SDOT “live” camera showing work zone on S. Michigan)
Last month, an SDOT announcement about various road projects included news of two weekend closures for S. Michigan between E. Marginal and 4th Ave. S., just off the north end of the 1st Avenue South Bridge. The first one started a short time ago and could continue until 5 am Monday. This is for road restoration related to the King County stormwater-facility project, and it’s scheduled to be repeated next weekend (the night of July 17th through the early morning of July 20th).
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