West Seattle, Washington

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Transportation 3709 results

Road-work alert from the city
December 13, 2007 4:43 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Transportation | West Seattle news

Just into the inbox, from the city Transportation Department:

Paving Contractor Carrying Out Minor Work on California Avenue SW

The contractor from the California Ave SW paving project will be on site periodically over the next few weeks correcting minor deficiencies and remaining restoration from the project completed in August. You may have noticed some temporary lane closures in the last day or two. This was necessary to adjust some utility manholes and create a smother ride.

Traffic disruptions and parking impacts will be minimal and of very short duration.

Normal work hours for the contractor are 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM Monday-Friday.

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Failing ferries could be big boon for Todd
December 13, 2007 1:27 pm
|      1 COMMENT
 |   Transportation

Under a plan presented by the governor today, Harbor Island’s Todd Shipyards would be the main contractor on a $100 million deal for three new ferries to replace the 4 pulled-from-service Steel Electric-class vessels. (They used to be a regular feature on the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth run, with the Quinault or Illahee serving as the 3rd boat till not all that long ago.) For your travels out of the area, it was also announced today that the state’s renting a ferry from Pierce County to restore auto service on the Port Townsend-Keystone run next month.

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Traffic alert: Fender-bender on The Bridge
December 12, 2007 7:22 am
|      12 COMMENTS
 |   Transportation | West Seattle news | WS breaking news

Leave a few minutes early if you come from the Fauntleroy end of The Bridge – there’s a four-car fender-bender blocking the left lane on the eastbound side, roughly parallel with Delridge. Note the solid block of headlights in the background of this west-facing bridgecam (8:35 AM UPDATE: the city has shifted the camera angle, and it’s now simply showing the backup, still looking west):

Here’s the backup on Fauntleroy (camera pointing east):

8:18 AM SIDE NOTE: We just heard the first radio traffic report about the Bridge problem on our news station of choice — one hour after it happened. As with other matters of WS-specific interest, we will do our best to monitor traffic trouble for you during rush hours, and we also appreciate your help — if you see a problem on a route into, out of, or within West Seattle, you can call or text us at 206-293-6302 (2062936302@vmobl.com) and one of us will post as soon as possible to get the word out.

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Some sort of viaduct progress
December 11, 2007 2:24 pm
|      4 COMMENTS
 |   Transportation

Or progress toward progress, according to this city news release.

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Parking lot behind Petco now officially closed
December 11, 2007 12:00 pm
|      10 COMMENTS
 |   Transportation | West Seattle news

We mentioned last week this was coming (that post, with project background, is here) …

petcolot.jpg

The parking lot behind Petco is now closed for construction of Mural, but note, however, that the alley is NOT blocked off (notice the car parked behind Curious Kidstuff in the background of the photo). Other free parking options besides the one on the big banner in the pic include one lot we suspect many people overlook – the one on 42nd south of Oregon, behind the businesses on the eastern side of California.

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Mystery lights, finally explained
December 10, 2007 5:07 pm
|      10 COMMENTS
 |   Transportation | West Seattle news

Several people have e-mailed us about those light poles that have popped up on strategic spots along West Seattle arterials — two round lights and a solar panel — wondering what they are for. We hadn’t gotten around to checking with SDOT or WSDOT yet but Ty has saved us the trouble (thank you!) — he says at least one of them now has a sign saying “ALASKAN WAY VIADUCT CLOSED WHEN FLASHING.” Great idea! (Will they add a second sign beneath saying “so don’t bother leaving West Seattle right now, k?”)

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Branching out
December 8, 2007 8:01 am
|    Comments Off on Branching out
 |   Seen around town | Transportation | West Seattle news

35thtree1.jpg

Seen along 35th yesterday — some of the volunteer arborists pruning street trees.

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Parking restrictions, explained
December 6, 2007 12:12 pm
|      3 COMMENTS
 |   Environment | Transportation | West Seattle news

Val e-mailed us to ask about the “no parking” signs along a stretch of 35th. This city press release explains what it’s all about: Arborists will be out tomorrow volunteering their time to prune “street trees” in several areas of the city — in West Seattle, along 35th between Holden and Alaska.

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Post-storm updates, including Allstar
December 4, 2007 5:38 am
|    Comments Off on Post-storm updates, including Allstar
 |   December 2007 flooding | Transportation | West Seattle weather

No major traffic trouble spots in Seattle so far this morning; here’s the list of outlying King County roads still having trouble (including one on Vashon), and if you have to drive outside King County, the state has a handy list of what’s up elsewhere on this page (including that big I-5 shutdown in Chehalis). ALLSTAR FITNESS UPDATE: Just called to check (in the wake of all that water in all those photos further down the page) — they ARE open today. ADDED 6:45 AM: Here’s the latest city press-release roundup of trouble spots (says all the ones here in WS are open again).

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And now – the drive home
December 3, 2007 5:13 pm
|      12 COMMENTS
 |   December 2007 flooding | Transportation | West Seattle weather

7:15 PM UPDATE: Went through that area of Delridge, nothing going on. So cancel that alert. Heard a city worker on the radio say Beach Drive is open again at the slide spot; will be heading out to check on that.

5:55 PM UPDATE: Could be new trouble on Delridge. “Automobile rescue” callout just popped up on the 911 site, 3800 block of Delridge (south of Skylark). Drivers heading that way, beware.

5:45 PM UPDATE: Steve reports: “Just got home (Gatewood) from SODO. First Ave S. and the high bridge were wide open.” Steve also notes that the Nucor mill is “completely dark”; we reported earlier that it had closed because of flooding – Margelyn also e-mailed earlier that she heard a radio-show caller say there’s a lot of water in Nucor’s basement and it might be closed a while; we’ll be checking on that but would also love to hear from anyone with firsthand updates.

5:09 PM UPDATE: OK, said team member has made it home. Summary: Not raining right now. Smooth sailing on The (high) Bridge, and beyond. Thinks maybe lots of people went home early. P.S. Check below in a few minutes for some added pix of today’s Delridge Deluge … we’ve received more, but don’t want to put them atop the commute info here till everyone’s home safe, so the post will be filed just BELOW this one.

4:42 PM UPDATE: Team member who’s heading home via The Viaduct says the left lane is closed for a stretch parallel to the south end of the waterfront (Coast Guard station on) so things are a little squeezed. Bridge update to come. Remember to scroll down for cam links and more.

4:15 PM UPDATE: First commute-home report from Vickie, who was worried about the Spokane St./Chelan Cafe’ area, but says Spokane “under the Harbor Ave offramps and to the north of Nucor doesn’t appear at this time to have any flooding troubles” — she says the low bridge, through that area, and up Avalon to 35th was all in good shape. (We have a WSB team member heading from downtown toward Morgan Junction soon and will have that update for you in a bit.) For those wondering about West Marginal Way – no trouble reported so far – here’s the city cam link.

4:10 PM UPDATE: Here’s a new press release from the city; it mentions that southbound lanes of the Battery Street Tunnel are closed, so if you get on 99 south of there, beware. No other West Seattle specifics aside from the Longfellow Creek flooding we have covered below.

3:35 PM ORIGINAL POST: We are gathering resources for drivers to check before heading back to West Seattle from workplaces elsewhere. First – so far as WS roads go – a recap of specific situations we have reported on further down the page: Remember that North Delridge has been the hardest-hit area (see photos and video below) – if you have to get to somewhere on Delridge, going around and approaching from the south is likely your best bet. Along Beach Drive, the mudslide’s not cleared yet (thanks to WSB sponsor Rhonda Porter from The Mortgage Porter for that update – she says on the north side, Beach Drive is closed at Jacobsen). For other roadway, here are some links to start with – we will add more info as we get/find it, including any reports you send about driving conditions:

WSB traffic-info page with cameras of particular WS relevance
All Seattle city traffic cams
All state DOT traffic cams
KIRO Radio continuous online regional traffic-incident info
Traffic.com regional traffic-incident info
Regional Public Information Network (RPIN) site with regional road closures and more
Alerts for roads managed by King County
Washington State Ferries service bulletins

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Beach Drive slide update: Here’s what it looks like
December 3, 2007 1:27 pm
|      11 COMMENTS
 |   December 2007 flooding | Transportation | West Seattle news | West Seattle weather

As mentioned below, Beach Drive is blocked by a mudslide in the 6000 block. 1:40 PM: Photo just in from Dawson (thank you!), who confirms this is close to the area where the city granted a permit for slope-side trees to be cut earlier this year (previous WSB report here):

Here’s our photo, from a bit closer up:

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Beach Drive reported closed by slide
December 3, 2007 12:26 pm
|    Comments Off on Beach Drive reported closed by slide
 |   December 2007 flooding | Transportation | West Seattle news | West Seattle weather

Included in this city press release: a report of a slide closing Beach Drive in the 6000 block. (map here)

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Reader report: Train derailment
November 28, 2007 8:27 am
|      6 COMMENTS
 |   Transportation | WS breaking news

From Garrett:

Train slightly derailed, zig zag fashion, right under the intersection of 99 and spokane st viaduct. Don’t know if this will affect any West Seattle Bridge traffic!

8:45 UPDATE: John from WSB sponsor Click! Design That Fits forwarded a city traffic alert e-mail that says: “All lanes on S Spokane St are blocked by a derailed train at E Marginal Way S. Seattle Police are providing traffic control.”

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About the Admiral medians …
November 27, 2007 3:58 pm
|      8 COMMENTS
 |   Transportation | West Seattle news

admiralpaved.jpg

The next step is here for the medians left mostly bare since the Admiral Way repaving last summer (as seen in our August photo above). Now, the city says it’s ready to figure out where it wants to put trees in the medians, with time for you to have a say on whether you agree:Read More

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Beware if you’re heading to I-5
November 15, 2007 2:58 pm
|      29 COMMENTS
 |   Not WS but we're mentioning it anyway | Transportation

Thanks to everybody who let us know about this – there’s been trouble the past couple hours in the vicinity of the West Seattle Bridge ramp to I-5 north – avoid it if you can – we’re checking on the status. 4:05 PM UPDATE: The ramp is still reported closed. Here is a link to the status updates at Traffic.com. 5:35 PM STATUS CHECK: All online sources still show this situation continuing; besides the Traffic.com link above, here’s the 710 AM radio “incidents” page. 7:40 PM STATUS CHECK: Not over yet. Click the comment link on this post to read, among other comments, more on exactly what and who one WSB reader saw while passing by. Meantime, here’s the image for the city traffic cam showing the area (refresh this page for the latest grab).

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Taking it to the streets
November 13, 2007 1:06 pm
|    Comments Off on Taking it to the streets
 |   Delridge | Transportation | West Seattle news | West Seattle politics | West Seattle video

Not sure if this is the first time the Seattle City Council has gathered on Delridge — but it’s probably the loudest time. Members were at Delridge and Myrtle to officially unveil the Pedestrian Safety Initiative (details here; we’re checking for West Seattle specifics) that’s part of the $900 million-plus city budget proposal. Here’s our first video clip (1 more to come) from the start of the event this morning; local kids appear nearby, about a minute in:

Second clip features a local neighborhood activist hoping to get her voice heard:Read More

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More on the King County Ferry District plan approved today
November 13, 2007 12:09 pm
|      2 COMMENTS
 |   Elliott Bay Water Taxi | Transportation | West Seattle news

Heard back from KC Councilmember Dow Constantine‘s staff on our question about the KCFD plan approved this morning: watertaxisailiconsize.jpgNo significant changes from the original plan posted on the county website. The levy rate to pay for Ferry District operations — including the Elliott Bay Water Taxi, the Seattle-Vashon passenger ferry that the state has to give up, and “demonstration routes” on other county waterways — will be 5.5 cents per $1000 of property value — $22/year ($1.83/month) if your home is worth $400,000. The assessment will start in January. As for Water Taxi operations — Argosy will continue to operate the service next year, for a season that might start slightly earlier and end slightly later than this year, and in summer of 2009; if dock improvements at Seacrest are ready by fall 2009, that’s when “in-house operations” would begin and the Water Taxi would go year-round — if dock improvements aren’t done by then, they say, that work would happen in winter ’09-’10 (it can’t happen any other time of the year) and year-round operations would start no later than spring 2010.

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Bulletin: Ferry District plan passes
November 13, 2007 10:15 am
|      4 COMMENTS
 |   Elliott Bay Water Taxi | Transportation | West Seattle politics

8-1 in favor (King County Councilmembers sitting as King County Ferry District), only no vote was Reagan Dunn. Missed part of the discussion so checking to see what changes if any were included in the approved plan, which is FD2007-06.1, with Title Amendment T. Lots of happy talk about transportation in King County now going “back to the future,” with a modern-day version of the fabled Mosquito Fleet. West Seattle’s Councilmember Dow Constantine talked about how the Mosquito Fleet was swept away by the automobile, but now, “those automobiles are sitting in gridlock and we don’t have a lot of choices about how to get from place to place” — this is a step toward more options; it includes demonstration routes elsewhere on Puget Sound and Lake Washington, in addition to the Elliott Bay Water Taxi and county operation of the Vashon-Seattle passenger ferry that the state has to give up. More details in a bit.

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City Council coming to West Seattle to talk about safety
November 9, 2007 9:07 pm
|    Comments Off on City Council coming to West Seattle to talk about safety
 |   Transportation | West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

It’s one of the hottest topics we’ve discussed here in the past few weeks, and it’s bringing the entire City Council here next Tuesday. While covering Council President Nick Licata‘s High Point visit last night (here’s our report, including video of Licata stopping a child from crossing 35th before the light changed), pedsign.jpgwe heard council members were coming to Sanislo Elementary; now the official city announcement is out, and it explains that they will gather Tuesday morning at Delridge/Myrtle, along the walking route to Sanislo (a few blocks away), to “hold a press conference about their proposed Strategic Pedestrian Safety Initiative for the 2008 City Budget.” Notably, this will be happening just one day before the first anniversary of a West Seattle pedestrian death that shook the council as well as the rest of the city — the 47th/Admiral accident on 11/14/06 that killed Councilmember David Della‘s chief of staff, Tatsuo Nakata.

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Crossing “I-35”
November 9, 2007 12:21 am
|      8 COMMENTS
 |   High Point | Transportation | West Seattle news | West Seattle video

Seattle City Council President Nick Licata came to High Point last night to meet with the HP Neighborhood Association. His evening began with a walking tour led by neighborhood reps Denise Sharify and Miranda Taylor showing him what they consider the hot spots for pedestrian danger and explaining what they want the city to do. Our videographer recorded much of it — but nothing underscored the point as well as this bit of unexpected suspense, when a little boy on a bicycle showed up nearby, needing to get across 35th SW:

Earlier in the tour, the HPNA reps made their case to Licata, explaining why they feel the neighborhood concerns (as detailed in this WSB post) haven’t gotten enough traction:Read More

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Alki Point and 30th SW sidewalk projects make the cut
November 8, 2007 10:27 am
|      5 COMMENTS
 |   Transportation | West Seattle news

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Just in, courtesy of this city press release: Remember the call for citizen votes earlier this fall on how to spend city money on neighborhood transportation projects? From the long list of West Seattle nominees, the mayor is recommending approval of two sidewalk projects: Alki Avenue from 65th to Beach Drive (stretching west from the area above where the sidewalk ends now), and in east West Seattle, a sidewalk along 30th between Findlay and Juneau.

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West Seattle “low bridge”: Open-and-shut case
November 8, 2007 9:09 am
|      18 COMMENTS
 |   Transportation | West Seattle news

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We weren’t here for the years before the “high bridge,” but we understand life was quite different when everyone trying to cross the Duwamish into and out of West Seattle was at the mercy of marine traffic. Now, we have the “high bridge” (completed in 1984) and the “low bridge” (completed in 1991), which elegantly swings open to allow marine traffic to get through. It’s that bridge Jennifer e-mailed WSB about to suggest a discussion:

I was wondering if there has been any discussion on the WSB or elsewhere about the opening of the lower bridge during rush hour? I began a daily trip across the lower bridge about two months ago, in order to reach my son’s day care on East Marginal, and I’m continually amazed at how frequently the lower bridge is opened around 8 AM and 5 PM, peak traffic times. Combine it with trains, the hellish traffic light at Spokane/West Marginal, and the occasional accident on the West Seattle Bridge (and all the folks who think they’ll beat the traffic by hopping down to the lower bridge), the roads leading to the lower bridge are gridlocked quite frequently.

Before I incur the wrath of indignant commenters (Ride the bus! Find daycare closer to home! Don’t complain because ships are people too! Go back to California!) I’d like to point out that this isn’t a whiney complaint; I’m really just interested to know what folks might know about it. I’m surprised that the trucking traffic coming out of all the Port terminals doesn’t take precedence over the ships passing through. Is there really a well-devised plan to take into account the needs of ship traffic, weighted against the huge traffic tie-ups that result during certain hours of the day? Forget the measly little commuters in their SUVs – what about the business impact to the industry in the area?

Also, my observation is that the lower bridge affects everyone who commutes in and out of WS – including bus riders, bicyclists, workers in the Duwamish area, truckers, and everyone on the ‘big’ bridge – because when the lower bridge is closed, everyone heads up there and does some kind of crazy u-turn in the 1st Avenue South area.

Thanks for any insights.

Here’s what the Seattle Department of Transportation has to say about it. (The bottom-line quote from that link, “The Southwest Spokane Street Swing Bridge opens on demand, even during rush hour.”)

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The crash that crunched the commute
November 7, 2007 7:02 am
|      12 COMMENTS
 |   Transportation | West Seattle news | West Seattle online

One wrecked motorcycle, two hurt people, four-plus hours of commute-tastrophe on The Bridge. If you got caught up in it yesterday afternoon/evening, you might be interested in the semi-witness account posted here.

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