2 notes about getting around
-State ferries are now on their winter schedule, including fewer runs on Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth.
-You may have heard about Metro taking bike racks off some of its buses. Here’s the official Metro advisory; the specific routes affected are listed as “all bus trips on routes 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 12, 13, 14, 36, 49 and 70, and some trips on routes 7, 43 and 44.” Doesn’t appear to involve any of the routes directly serving West Seattle.
“Walk All Ways” — love it or hate it?
As you probably know, the “Walk All Ways” intersection at California/Alaska was purposely preserved during the recent California repaving. But some still wonder if its time has come and gone, such as Robert Hull, who sent this letter-to-the-editor-style writeup to WSB for discussion:
Time To Rethink the Junction “All Way Walkâ€
I think it is time to reconsider the “All Way Walk†at the West Seattle Alaska Junction. It was fine for a while, but with the increasing traffic in the area, I believe that it should be returned to a “normal†traffic light, which would include free right turns, and a walk button for pedestrians wishing to cross the street. This would potentially reduce the amount of high volume traffic on our residential streets, since more people would use the Junction intersection rather than residential areas.
For several years I have avoided the Alaska Junction intersection due to the amount of time needed to get through the area. Instead, I have been using the residential side streets to get around this congestion. Now, we are finding that many other people are using our residential street as a major arterial. The amount of traffic on our once-quite street has increased about 200% in the last six months and most cars are traveling between 25 and 35 MPH, with some cars coming through at about 40MPH (speed limit is 20MPH on residential streets).
With all of the new condos being built in the area, and additional units coming on-line in the next few years (QFC and Whole Foods developments), the traffic problem will only get much worse. As a pedestrian, I liked the idea of the “All Way Walk,†since it was rather unique and made for some interest in our neighborhood. But the “All Way Walk†is no longer practical due to the large amount of traffic. It is also a safety issue, since it is only a matter of time before a pedestrian gets injured or killed with cars traveling 40MPH on residential streets.
Discuss!
Bus-tunnel update: Open!
EARLY MORNING UPDATE: As noted in comments, Metro says the bus tunnel is back in business. PREVIOUSLY: Metro still doesn’t know if the bus tunnel will be back in business for the Tuesday morning commute. They’re promising updates at the Metro website sometime after 4 am, so we’ll leave this at the top of the page into the early morning.
Mourning the monorail; looking ahead
Photo courtesy of Vlad Oustimovitch, remembering the monorail-that-wasn’t, on the date once touted as a potential opening day.
First, the background for newcomers: The concept of a citywide Seattle Monorail – eventually envisioned as starting with the “Green Line” between West Seattle and Ballard – passed several city votes dating back to 1997 before an uproar over its financing plan led to one last vote that killed it in 2005. The monorail agency already had been set up and was collecting money from car-tab taxes; it had bought property in West Seattle that has since been resold, some of which is just now being developed, such as the parking lot behind Petco that’s becoming Mural, and the ex-Video Vault spot in Morgan Junction that is becoming the new Beveridge Place Pub and a neighboring park. (Other sites, from their original monorailproperty.com pages, included: 35th/Avalon, 35th south of Avalon, the former Herald office further south on 35th.) So on this Opening Day That Wasn’t, you might wonder, what’s next for mass transit in West Seattle, considering that Sound Transit light rail isn’t pointing our way? Some interesting ideas can be read on the Sustainable West Seattle Transportation Action Group blog; regarding more concrete plans, two public meetings are set in West Seattle next month for the “RapidRide” bus plan (both dates are on the WSB Events page).
Road-work alert from the city
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.
Failing ferries could be big boon for Todd
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.
Traffic alert: Fender-bender on The Bridge
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.
Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth is still the next route scheduled to get it … and still no date set; after 
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