The long-in-the-works East Marginal Way South Corridor Improvement Project is finally fully funded. It’s not in West Seattle, but it’s on a transportation corridor for many traveling between here and the downtown waterfront, in modes from bicycling to trucking. Federal and city officials announced today that the project has received a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s RAISE (Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity) program. SDOT says this will enable it to start construction “at the end of 2022,” with completion “estimated for 2025.” The city’s announcement continues:

The grant funding will enable SDOT to do both the safety improvements and the road reconstruction at the same time. This means that there will be fewer disruptions to freight traffic during construction.

Currently, East Marginal Way S faces three primary transportation challenges along the corridor: 1) safety, 2) mobility and increasing demand, and 3) deterioration of pavement. The RAISE grant will now help improve operational and safety deficiencies by widening and strengthening the road to accommodate larger and heavier truck traffic, provide access to freight terminals at the Port of Seattle for the trucks that use the corridor each day, and helping to reduce congestion with improved traffic signals.

Below are some of the improvements in the East Marginal Way S Corridor Improvement project:

-Reconstructing the East Marginal Way S roadway and upgrading the route to Heavy Haul Network standards along a 1.1-mile segment from a point south of S Massachusetts St to S Spokane St to enhance efficient freight flow.

-Constructing a 2-way protected bike lane along a 1.4-mile segment between S Atlantic St and S Spokane St to increase visibility, protect the approximately 1,000 people who ride bikes on this corridor each day, and work toward our Vision Zero goal of ending traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2030.

-Rebuilding the sidewalk on the west side of East Marginal Way S adjacent to the roadway reconstruction to provide a safe, accessible route for people walking.

-Constructing new traffic signals that will work dynamically together to enhance safety and improve traffic flow at several of the City’s busiest freight intersections.

For more details on what’s planned, see this fact sheet. The city says the project funding also includes $7 million from the Levy to Move Seattle as well as from the port and state. Total estimated cost will be $43 million, according to page 19 of this document used in the application for the just-announced federal grant.

Thanks to everyone who’s reported in recent days (including Jonny, who sent the photo) that the legendary 367-step Thistle Street stairway, which runs between Northrop Place and 46th SW just east of Lincoln Park [map], is partly closed. The sign, at the west end of the stairway on 46th, is the only sign, and the steep stretch between Northrop and 44th is not affected. It’s a city-owned structure so we first inquired with SDOT, which said it wasn’t a project of theirs, and then finally obtained this info today, that “a nearby private homeowner’s sewer line is being repaired. They estimate that the area will be closed for 1.5 weeks.”

(SDOT camera image during morning closure)

3:21 PM: As covered in our morning traffic watch, the low bridge was out of service for about two hours this morning, reopening to vehicle traffic just after 10 am. Here’s what SDOT says happened:

Early this morning, one of the three pumps needed for the bridge’s operation started to lose pressure and exhibit atypical noises, requiring SDOT to cease bridge operations while our crews inspected the issue and performed the necessary actions to restart the bridge.

Over the course of the next few days, we will determine if the pump should be replaced or can be repaired. During that time, SDOT will station electrician and mechanical crews at the low bridge during the morning and afternoon peak periods in the event the pump requires additional attention.

On Tuesday, November 9, SDOT planned to replace a different pump on the bridge. There will be no traffic impacts to vehicles when replacing this pump on Tuesday. Any repair or replacement activities required for the pump that malfunctioned today can be performed at that time.

7:35 PM: SDOT says the same pump is having trouble tonight and they’re working on it, but the traffic cam shows it’s still open.

7:57 PM: SDOT says that while it’s open to vehicle traffic, currently the low bridge cannot open for marine traffic.

10:21 PM: SDOT’s latest update:

At approximately 5:30 pm this evening, the same pump on the Spokane Street Bridge (West Seattle Low Bridge) once again began experiencing mechanical issues preventing the bridge from being opened for maritime traffic. This only affected ships, and authorized vehicles were able to continue driving over the bridge as normal.

SDOT mechanical crews responded to the situation quickly and were able to open the eastern side of the bridge, allowing ships to pass through. We plan to expedite repairs of the malfunctioning pump as soon as possible, and will only swing open and close the eastern side of the bridge until these repairs are complete (normally, both halves of the bridge swing open). This will only affect certain marine traffic, and will not impact vehicles authorized to drive over the bridge.

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The final candidate forum presented by a local organization brought the King County Executive candidates to the West Seattle Transportation Coalition‘s online meeting Thursday night.

It was a chance for one last look at three-term incumbent Executive Dow Constantine and first-term State Sen. Joe Nguyen, both West Seattle residents, before the voting deadline Tuesday night. WSTC chair Michael Taylor-Judd and board member Kate Wells facilitated. The questions – which, given the group’s mission, focused on transportation – and answers below are our summaries/paraphrasings, not exact quotes except for what’s within quotation marks. (Added Monday night – here’s the WSTC meeting video; the candidates’ forum starts 31 minutes in.)

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Thanks to Joseph for that photo taken this morning on the West Seattle low bridge. The photo reminds us that with one week to go until the start of November, it’s time to share this announcement with you:

Looking for an active transportation alternative to sitting sedentary in traffic jams?

West Seattle Bike Connections encourages everyone to join the November Ride in the Rain Challenge sponsored by Washington Bikes and Cascade Bicycle Club.

It’s free, easy and fun to sign up, whether you are a seasoned bike rider or want to try out commuting by bicycle for the first time. You can ride anywhere and for any reason as long as your trip is at least 10 minutes long. Once you join, you can also invite friends, family or coworkers to join and form a team of up to ten riders to compete with other groups across the region. Every day you log a ride in November 2021 you get points for participation, a point for every mile you ride and bonus points for encouraging others. Maximize your points by making a goal of riding every day. You have a chance to win prizes and enjoy the knowledge that riders across Washington are silently cheering you on.

Check the West Seattle Bike Connections Resources web page for tips on riding safely and comfortably in rainy weather and for route suggestions to popular commuting destinations on and off the West Seattle peninsula.

Researching a few questions we’ve received about the RapidRide H Line-related road work – not the almost-complete Delridge project, but the other components such as 26th SW road rebuilding and 15th/Roxbury work – we discovered that the project team has twice-weekly “virtual office hours” for updates and questions. The next one is at 4 pm today. You can join via this Microsoft Teams link or by phone at 206-485-0017, conference ID 343 764 643#. If that time doesn’t work for you, email questions/comments to rapidride@kingcounty.gov.

9:32 AM: Four days after Washington State Ferries put Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth on a two-boat schedule until further notice, the system just announced that they’ve found enough crew to restore three-boat service today. Beyond that? We’re checking. It’s one of three routes for which a reduced-service schedule started this past Saturday.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT: WSF says three-boat service will continue at least through Thursday morning.

Announced today by the city – enforcement of the 72-hour parking rule will resume in a week. The announcement says the first priority will be to clear “unoccupied hazardous vehicles that may have been abandoned over the past 19 months.” As for vehicles being used as residences:

Parking enforcement at SDOT will not impound a vehicle with someone living in it unless it poses a specific risk to public health such as inadequate sanitation causing a direct risk of illness or injury, inadequate protection leaving the occupants exposed to the weather, or other environmental, fire, health and safety hazards.

So what might that mean to longrunning RV encampments like the one alongside the Nucor Steel plant on SW Andover?

(WSB photo, this morning)

This week, Nucor management sent us a statement from vice president/general manager Matthew Lyons, expressing frustration with the situation. Here’s what he wrote:

The West Seattle neighborhood where Nucor Steel is located, like countless neighborhoods across the city, is experiencing the difficult work of addressing the needs of unhoused people in our city. At Nucor, safety is our most important core value as a company, including the safety of our teammates and our neighbors in the communities where we operate. We are concerned that an RV encampment on city property along the fence line of our manufacturing plant is presenting a public safety threat to residents of the encampment, our teammates, and surrounding neighbors. For example, Nucor teammates and contractors have been threatened with violence and our facility has been broken into numerous times and items have been stolen. Trespassing is occurring with greater frequency and presents a significant safety hazard to those trespassing and to our teammates as we are a 24-hour, seven day a week manufacturing facility.

We know the homelessness crisis is complex and that those living outside face many challenges. We would like to work with the city of Seattle and local nonprofits who assist people who are unhoused to find housing options for residents of the encampment. We believe the location of this encampment poses a potential safety risk to its residents and Nucor teammates and contractors. It would be in the best interest of people living in the encampment, our business and the West Seattle community for our company, local nonprofits and the city to work together to find a solution.

Along with the statement, we received this letter Lyons had sent to Mayor Jenny Durkan four months ago, going into further details about why the company believes the RV encampment meets city parameters for removal as an urgent hazard. A company spokesperson tells us, “Nucor has made several attempts to contact multiple city officials both before and after the letter was sent in June, but with very limited success.”

Now comes the news that the city is reviving the 72-hour parking rule. While today’s announcement said parking enforcement “will not impound a vehicle with someone living in it” in most situations, does that mean no tickets or warning notices? We took that question to SDOT. Their response reiterated that residential vehicles would have to be deemed hazardous, and added:

The first step of enforcement for any type of vehicle is to leave an official warning notice giving the vehicle owner at least 72 hours to move their vehicle. If it appears that people may be living one of these vehicles, we will provide the occupants information about assistance and support services and resources along with a warning notice, or attach this information to the vehicle.

Vehicles which move to another location voluntarily will not be in violation of the 72-hour rule. If a vehicle needs to be repaired to be driven, we will attempt to be flexible and work with the owner and provide a reasonable amount of time if they are demonstrating a good faith effort to get the vehicle repaired.

We first reported on the Andover RV encampment almost six years ago – at which time some of the vehicles already were displaying orange warning notices.