West Seattle, Washington
19 Saturday
Was it a preview of Life Without The Viaduct? The Battery Street Tunnel closed for a while at peak commute time this morning because of an accident, and that meant an hour-plus from WS to downtown. Another reason to check traffic reports BEFORE you hit the road (oops).
In June, the state said wi-fi service would be on the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth ferry run by July 16th. Didn’t happen. Now there’s a new date: August 13th.
We haven’t updated WS gas prices for a while; the price situation has stayed relatively stable. Arco on Delridge by Home Depot retains the title of WS Gas Station With The Lowest Posted Price, $2.87 as of early this afternoon (photo left); more than half a dozen other stations are in the $2.90s. This all puts us way below the state that now has the highest prices in the nation (Nebraska!), and even below the national average.
The Vespa enthusiasts who are rallying in Seattle this weekend headed out WS way today. Chris sent us word of his Flickr page with video and pix after spotting the huge group coming off the low bridge. Looks like they were headed to the Fauntleroy ferry dock for a ride to Vashon, so watch out for the procession heading the other way later this afternoon.
Just so you’re not startled trying to drive through The Junction tonight or tomorrow morning even before the festival begins — the city reminds us that the road closures for Summer Fest kick in at 6 tonight and continue till late Sunday night. (And in an outside-WS note, if you need to travel to the Eastside, remember this is one of those “520 bridge shutdown” weekends, 11 pm Friday till 5 am Monday.)
One side of the marquee atop Java Bean Coffee on Avalon pleads, SAVE OUR CROSSWALK!!!! The crosswalk in question is in the foreground of this photo, near a bus stop and a stretch of Avalon where many patrons of Java Bean and neighboring Luna Park Cafe have to park (and cross) since those businesses have a small lot:
We wrote Java Bean boss Tony Hoyt to find out what’s going on. He pointed us to this city Transportation Department webpage, which says in part:
SDOT has completed a technical analysis of the unsignalized marked crosswalk at SW Avalon Way and SW Orleans Street. This crosswalk no longer meets our recommended guidelines and will be removed.
Which makes no sense to Tony, who summarized the situation this way in a group e-mail he sent out this week:
The city of Seattle wants to remove the crosswalk from in front of the West Seattle Java Bean. A few years ago they removed a flashing, yellow caution light from above the crosswalk and one of my employees was struck by a car and nearly killed. Now they want to remove the crosswalk entirely. This crosswalk is 50 feet from two Bus stops and the city just installed two sidewalk cut away ramps last summer… now they want to remove the crosswalk. I guess this will make it safer for those older folks and citizens in wheel chairs to cross the street.
Tony says it would make more sense to restore the overhead warning light than to remove the crosswalk. We found an even more impassioned account (including more on what happened to the accident victim mentioned by Tony) written up here. Meantime, even though the city webpage makes this sound like a done deal, they’re still asking for comments; click to e-mail them.
The city is selling some of the old street signs it has been replacing (we’d estimate two-thirds of the signs around WS already have been replaced). The inventory list (with prices) includes some WS signs.
The city now says Admiral will only have to close for one full night as part of the latest phase of the repaving process: 7 pm tonight till 6 am Friday, it will be closed between Olga and 41st. More in the city’s latest project update here.
Next time you’re stuck in the bridge backup in the morning commute, or a viaduct slowdown during either commute, look over at Elliott Bay and notice … all that room atop the sea. Couldn’t we make better use of it, beyond just the seasonal Water Taxi and the current lineup of ferry routes? As mentioned here previously, King County leaders are taking a step in that direction. And they will be part of a big event tonight at Salty’s looking at the Sound-wide possibilities of waterborne transportation. (The North Kitsap Herald has this preview with a little more on what’s involved.)
A reader writes with a concern she wanted to put before all of WSB-land … discuss!
I’m just wondering, is there any discussion in city hall or the DOT about updating the entrance/interchange onto the West Seattle Bridge. In particular, the dangerous exit ramp to 4th Ave. S. and the closed entrance ramp onto the bridge. Having the entrance ramp closed over the past five years has been so frustrating for commuters stuck waiting for trains to pass. Isn’t it past time for these problem areas to be fixed?
The city Transportation Department has posted a new update on the WS repaving project as the Cali work wraps up and the Admiral work begins. Note there are nighttime shutdowns set for Admiral right after the Fourth of July.
While several other stations that had been selling regular below $3/gallon have nowĂ‚ stepped back up over that mark, Delridge Arco keeps dropping. The $2.91 shown below is 18 cents below the current Seattle average (according to AAA).
That’s what a guy from West Seattle suggests we need, in this P-I “guest column.”
-In less than an hour, the final bell will ring at Fairmount Park Elementary, one of the Seattle Public Schools buildings that are being closed to save $. The kids who go there are “merging” into High Point Elementary . (FPĂ¢â‚¬â„¢s half-century history is detailed here.)
-Speaking of closed school buildings: This week’s WS Herald has an update on the future of the Fauntleroy Schoolhouse; next week, the city Parks Board will talk about its possible role in that future.
-In the mood to feel elegant? Just found out about High Tea on Saturday at Village Green Perennial Nursery, a hidden treasure for gardeners in WS (and beyond).-This Sunday, the Washington State Ferries summer schedule kicks in, which means more weekend service to/from Fauntleroy.
Delridge Arco has dropped a couple more cents, to $2.93/regular; however, both of the Fauntleroy/Alaska stations have popped back up over three bucks, while remaining below the statewide average.
Or at least you would have to assume that’s why yet another station — 35th/Avalon 7-11, in this case — just swapped out its manual priceboard for something electronic:
… to this: “Thou shalt not blaze through a four-way stop without giving all due respect to everyone else at/in the intersection.”
6-8 pm @ Southwest Library – all are welcome at the next meeting of SWS, which describes itself as “a newly-formed group of West Seattle citizens who want to make a difference locally, Âťworking within our neighborhood to become more self-reliant while using fewer natural resources.”
First – flagging on Alki today, because of some utility work across from Duke’s:
Second – checked out the Morgan/Sylvan shutdown; on the west, as our photo shows, it’s closed just a block east of 35th; on the other side, it’s not closed till the cemetery.
Third – posters are popping up all around WS to heighten the alert about the I-5 Project From Hell coming up in August. We even got a ping from a WSDOT person recently asking if we’d discussed it here; they promise all sorts of online resources to help people cope, but note that it’s going to hit us pretty hard since it’ll be happening right where we all pour out onto I-5.
Delridge Arco is back in the low-price lead (photo below), with a bonus mystery price:
Don’t forget — as of tomorrow morning, a major east-west West Seattle route is scheduled to close, and stay closed, for three months. All along 35th (and elsewhere), the signs were in place and waiting as of late today (albeit facing backward, till morning):
The route, if you’re not already aware, is Morgan/Sylvan between 35th and Delridge. The designated detour/alternative is Holden. If you find yourself needing to call someone with questions, there’s a “construction information hotline” in this city news release about the project.
Remember, it’s closed till about 11 this morning for RFTC. We’re off to be part of it.
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