West Seattle, Washington
02 Wednesday
The date is set for its 2007 debut — April 29 — running thru late September.
Now most of Cali between Hinds and the post office is chewed up/grooved, so slower going. We tried side streets to the west as a detour; won’t do that again, those free-for-all intersections aren’t cut out for the overflow. Unrelated side street note: On 41st north of Admiral, heading north from Metro Market, the center stripe is green, leading all the way to a “shamrock” near the end of the street. Our e-mail tipster says the repainting is a St. Patrick’s Day holdover that apparently happens every year; first time we’ve seen/heard of it.
Just spotted this as we drove home from a produce trip to Tony’s: SDOT is putting up left-turn signals on 35th at Thistle. If you’ve never tried to make that turn (in either direction), you’ve never enjoyed the death-defying thrills of cars relentlessly racing toward you at what seems like freeway speed. This should save some lives, from reduced stress as well as reduced collision rate:
The cone zone stretches farther north this morning — all the way to Hinds. Pavement-chewing machine is currently busy on the west edge of the road.
Cones and crews are out on Cali from just north of Spokane, south to the post office. (Photo below is from the north edge of this morning’s work zone.) The truck that’s chewing up the old pavement is making fast work of the eastern edge of the road, for starters. Things were moving fairly well when we passed through; but if you just need to get between North WS and South WS, certainly you could try alternate routes such as Beach Drive or 35th.
Reminder that the Cali Ave repaving is supposed to start back up today. We’ll check it out in a while to report back. Your updates (as comments or e-mail) welcome too.
-We’ve been watching the additional ballot counts roll in each day since voting ended on Tuesday. The tunnel option has held steady at 70% no, but replacement-a-duct has lost ground day by day … on election night, it was at 55% no; tonight, that’s up to 57% no.
-Speaking of the viaduct, we know a bit more about exactly when it will be shut down next weekend for the big inspection. At least it won’t be out of commission the entire weekend.
-City DOT crews are putting out the “no parking” signs on Cali right now, south of Charlestown, blocking off street parking as of Sunday, looking ahead to the restart of repaving work next Monday.
-Mars Hill has unveiled more of its parking plan. It includes buses as well as the Hughes School (currently temporary home to South Lake HS) parking lot as overflow and “midweek programming” parking.
This is mostly a message to the IDIOT who NEARLY KILLED US TODAY — but it’s a good reminder for all of us who drive: A FOUR-WAY STOP IS A FOUR-WAY STOP. NOT A FOUR-WAY “PRETEND YOU ARE STOPPING BUT THEN POWER THROUGH.” COME TO A COMPLETE STOP, LOOK IN ALL DIRECTIONS, THEN, ONLY WHEN YOU ARE SURE NOBODY ELSE IS CURRENTLY DRIVING THROUGH THE INTERSECTION, PROCEED. THE LIFE YOU SAVE MAY BE YOUR OWN (AND OURS). Thank you. Grrrr.
A WSB reader with kids @ Lafayette Elementary across from the store’s south lot forwarded us this e-mail bulletin from the school, complete with handy phone number if anyone wants to call the store’s manager to ask whassup with all this. Full e-mail text, plus a photo of something interesting we spotted in that same lot this morning, after the jump:Read More
The block of 47th just south of Admiral is blocked off this morning because of road work (possibly related to the “pedestrian improvements“? hard to tell — but they’re digging up the 47th corner pavement just north of Alki Mail & Dispatch in a big way).
-Tough choice but decided to go to the Alki cat adopt-a-thon instead of the SW library grand opening (one-day-only event vs. many chances from now on to see the books’ beautiful new digs). Did not emerge with a new cat. Old cats greatly relieved.
-Looks like Casa Feliz is back from the dead after 2 months away. Tried calling to ask what happened, nobody answered. All info welcome.
-Eagle-eyed reader notes the cameras on light poles by the new Admiral/Olga traffic signal (photo below). Will they be traffic webcams, or “run the light and you’re busted” cams? We’ll see if we can find out.
First we saw a warning posted on one Admiral Junction store’s door this morning; then we got e-mail from another shop … so this is new and could get ugly. 
See the sign at left? At least a dozen are now planted all around the parking lots on three sides of Admiral Safeway. And the fine print, “monitored by employees of Diamond Parking 24 hours a day,” is no idle threat. As neighboring businesses are warning their customers, those DP employees are writing tickets. The photo below shows one in action on the south side of Safeway (bad news for families from Lafayette Elementary across the street). The parking situation in Admiral has been tough for a while; right or wrong, this won’t make it any easier.
More than three months after the paving project in The Junction wrapped up, bet you forgot the city promised more work on Cali, all the way north to Admiral (plus a stretch of Admiral itself). Well, at least WE forgot till we just got an e-mail alert from a city list we’d also forgotten we signed up for. Says work will resume March 19, starting between Genesee and Spokane. Click ahead for the complete text of the city alert:Read More
If you use Delridge to get onto the WS Bridge, one of your neighbors has a request for you … they say it much better than we could (especially since that’s not our route), so here’s the whole e-mail, after the “jump”:Read More
Reminder — Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis talks transportation at the Fauntleroy Community Association’s community meeting at The Hall tonight. (He’s filling in for Hizzoner, who is in DC this morning to talk to Congress about global warming.)
West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician is just wrapping up an hourlong q-and-a session on the Times website. Some WS-specific stuff, too.
-Want to hear the experts discuss the viaduct situation, present and future? Tonight’s the big forum at West Seattle HS (6:30-8 pm) with panelists including City Council member Jan Drago and Seattle Department of Transportation boss Grace Crunican.
-Just two nights till you can get the mayor’s office perspective from Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis, courtesy of the Fauntleroy Community Association.
-Ex-govs Gary Locke and Dan Evans declare themselves anti-viaduct (though not necessarily pro-tunnel) in today’s Times.
–MIDMORNING ADD: The No Tunnel Alliance says it will “rally” 4:30 pm-6:30 pm today at 35th & Fauntleroy.
On the heels of yesterday’s biodiesel-mania, this seems to fit into a bit of a theme. Tonight at Camp Long, you can check out a free screening (donations welcome) of “Who Killed the Electric Car?”, with guests on hand from FlexCar, GreenCar, and the Seattle EV Association.
High Point-to-Delridge drivers, beware: Cindi from the Morgan Community Association alerts us to more upcoming traffic woes; this excerpt is from the latest Morgan Junction e-mail newsletter, quoting the major construction company on the High Point project:
“SW Morgan / Sylvan Way will most likely be closed for a short period (one to two weeks) during late February/early March. This closure is being planned in conjunction with work taking place on an unrelated development east of High Point. This coordination will minimize the impacts to the neighbors and surrounding area. SW Morgan / Sylvan Way will then be temporarily closed for a longer period (several months) this summer to allow for complete rebuild of the roadway and utilities associated with our project. We will provide notification to local residents and businesses and will have a detour route well-indicated. Every effort will be made to minimize the duration of street closures.”
We’ve been asked before about the deplorable condition of Sylvan Way closer to Delridge; Cindi is checking on whether repairs to that stretch might be included in those summer closures.
A list of great/not-so-great moments in Seattle transportation history that’s in the Times today includes this line:
1984  Scandal-plagued high-level West Seattle Bridge survives referendum and opens.
Had no idea, about the scandal OR the vote — just the freighter crash that accelerated the bridge work. Online, we found a little bit about the scandal (design problems, city employees getting fired over them), but can’t find more about the vote. Old-timers, any enlightenment? (We weren’t here in the eighties.)
If you didn’t see the mobile light-up signboards today, here’s the warning in writing: Some WS Bridge ramps will be out of commission for a while 2 am-10 am Saturday.
One Metro route through eastern West Seattle just got extra service as part of the Transit Now tax increase that voters passed countywide in November. Route 120 goes between downtown and Burien via Delridge and White Center. Besides expansion of that route and several others, the county says it’s working on the new express routes promised in the TN initiative, including one (see this map) to get more of West Seattle downtown (especially once The Viaduct is out of service — speaking of which, the No Tunnel Alliance launches its campaign tomorrow, days after the kickoff for Not Another Elevated Viaduct — can’t find any official site yet for the No/No faction).
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