West Seattle, Washington
25 Thursday
As the I-5 closures roll ever-closer, the very nice folks in communications @ WSDOT are working overtime to be sure even small news “organizations” like WSB are supplied with every last little bit of info. Among today’s bits: This helpful link including the specifics on exactly which lanes are scheduled to be closed when. That includes a complete lack of access to NB I-5 from the east end of The Bridge this weekend — so don’t even try.
We are working on a list of who’s got wi-fi access around WS, besides the obvious (coffeehouses), for anyone who really can take the advice of West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician and telecommute to avoid the I-5-related trauma expected during FF ’07. The latest addition, if you weren’t aware: Public library branches. West Seattle has four of ’em: Southwest, High Point, Delridge, and of course, WS (north of Metro Market).
According to this afternoon’s e-mail update from the city Transportation Department, the paving closures on Admiral aren’t scheduled to start till Thursday night. Click ahead for the full text of that e-mail update (including a warning for neighbors about possible side effects inside their homes):Read More
We’ve been warned: Friday night is the start of the three-week project that will close much of northbound I-5, off and on, round the clock, right where West Seattle drivers roll onto 5, between Spokane Street and I-90. A few more planning tidbits today:
-Remember the suggestion from West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician, to work from home or hang out someplace with wi-fi? Coffeehouses aren’t the only places you can get online; for example, Matthew @ Skylark Cafe wants everyone in WSB-land to know Skylark (north end of Delridge, just south of The Bridge) has wi-fi and welcomes telecommuters – open at 11:30 am Tuesdays-Fridays, 9 am Saturdays & Sundays. He adds, “We have air conditioning and happy hour all day til 7pm … we are also family-friendly until 9 pm when we become 21+.”
-Another e-mail suggested we remind everyone that some bus routes will change during the construction too.
Noteworthy tidbit in this P-I article about inspectors checking area bridges after the Minneapolis collapse: The Admiral Way bridge is one of five in the city with special electronic detectors that monitor it for signs of trouble. (Side note for historic-photo geeks like us, the city archives have lots of shots of its 1949-50 construction, such as this and this.)
This just arrived in our inbox from a WSB reader:
I wanted to note a scary incident on the 21 Express to West Seattle Friday evening.
A female rider became verbally abusive on the bus when she realized the bus was making the right turn onto the Columbia on-ramp to Highway 99. I’ve dubbed her the ‘scary bus female’ (SBF) because she definitely was not a lady. The bus had already started on the on-ramp so could not let her off. She insisted to the driver that she had been let off before. As the bus progressed, she returned to her seat loudly expressing her displeasure. She was upset and very vocal about it. The entire ride was unnerving for those who sat in the back with her.
Midway on 99, she made the ride much worse making threats to kill a woman and her grandson. Fellow riders, including a gentleman beside me, quickly got up to help control the situation. The grandmother and her grandson and other riders moved away from SBF. Several riders stood creating a human fence to block SBF from the rest of us. F or the rest of the trip on 99, until the first stop at 35th and Avalon, SBF was corraled until it was time for her to get off. The driver alert Metro base and we last saw SPD arrive at the scene but our bus was not detained per the wish of the grandmother as she wanted all of us to get home. I hope they’re okay as this was a horrible experience.
It was admirable what these people did. It made me only think of what happened several years ago when a Metro bus went off the Aurora bridge. Kudos to these riders. They helped prevent something that could have been worse.
… you should see it again. Nine days after a sharp reader helped us bring you first word of the Elliott Bay Water Taxi‘s increased capacity, extra early-AM run, and extra shuttle during the looming Freeway Fright ’07, King County posted another official alert about it today. If you still aren’t completely dialed into the I-5 challenges ahead, here’s the WSDOT lowdown; here’s the city’s plan; here’s our newly enhanced traffic-cams-n-more page (we’ll be adding more including the I-5/Spokane Street cam since that will be the epicenter of the Aug. 10-29 fun).
WSB reader/commenter (and blogger) Chas Redmond writes to tell us flyers have just gone around announcing the imminent demise of the 35th SW crosswalk at Kenyon (photo), hot on the heels of the Java Bean crosswalk removal….
Chas elaborates on this better than we could, so we’re quoting verbatim from his e-mail:
SDOT appears to be on a crosswalk-removing rampage – again claiming that “safety is our highest priority” and that un-signalized but marked crosswalks do not meet Federal standards based in part on a 2002 Federal Highway Administration study. So, the latest victim is the marked crosswalk at Kenyon and 35th Avenue SW. Oh, SDOT also says that “it is also important to note that, according to Washington state law, a legal pedestrian crossing exists at every intersection regardless of whether or not a crosswalk is marked. Thus pedestrians will continue to have a legal right to cross at this intersection.”
What they don’t state is that they are removing more and more of the visible signs of pedestrians, giving drivers even more incentive to ignore pedestrians. Irrespective of whether or not un-signalized crosswalks are safer or not, marked crosswalks remind motorists that there other users of the roadway or intersection and removing them is one more notch on the belt of automotive traffic at the expense of pedestrian traffic. Responses can be made by calling SDOT’s comment line at 206-615-1608 or e-mailing “walkandbike@seattle.gov.”
But be it known that the flyer states emphatically “SDOT will be removing the crosswalk at 35th Avenue SW and SW Kenyon Street.”
West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician announced today that he is planning to cope with Freeway Fright ’07 by, among other things, telecommuting and taking some time off. If you can’t work from home, how about a wi-fi-equipped coffeehouse? Suggests Hizzoner, “Fill up, log in, and chill out.” If you just can’t avoid driving, take note that some alternate routes will get special treatment, like First Avenue South heading north from The Bridge into downtown. Remember, you can check commute cams before you leave, through our WS “Live” Cams page. We’ll bring you more details on alternate routes in the days before FF ’07 hits; for now, here’s the official WSDOT project page. (We would be negligent also not to take this opportunity to re-remind you of an unrelated WS project that’s now just days away, the intense phase of Admiral repaving.)
West Seattle bicyclists, you tell us: Is the fact that “sharrows” weren’t included in the Cali repaving truly the outrage this Slog post infers it is, or should be?
We’ve mentioned before that Delridge Arco, besides usually having the lowest posted gas price in WS (though one reader warned, that can be negated by a surcharge for using plastic), has quite the challenge for those tasked with changing its price signs: They have to change four sets of numbers, one on each side of its two big signs. If one particular digit appears too often — well, see our picture to witness the results. (The backward and missing digits are supposed to be 9’s.) Arco’s $2.79 is still the lowest in WS; next up, Admiral Chevron at $2.87 as of last night, with many others following at $2.89. Speaking of numbers, interesting Times story today about what kind of profit station operators apparently are NOT making off these prices.
Our WS “live” cams page has long featured links to city and state traffic cameras in and near WS. In time for this morning’s commute, we tweaked the page to add images from those cameras: Each time you check the page, you will see the newest images from all the cameras we link to. They won’t automatically refresh (nor do they on their source sites), but every time you “refresh” or return to the page, you will get updated images for all cameras. Let us know any other cameras (the city and state have a ton) you would like to see added.
Hot out of the inbox, a city update on the Admiral Way paving project, including a total shutdown between 41st & Olga, week after next — here’s hoping it’s finished on time, before colliding with Freeway Fright ’07 — click ahead for the full text of the city update:Read More
A commenter broke the news beneath the I-5 post below … we got it confirmed by King County and WSDOT: 
The Water Taxi is getting new technology (Automatic Identification System equipment) which enables the Coast Guard to certify it to nearly double its passenger capacity to 250. This is being done in time for Freeway Fright ’07 next month, but will last beyond that. As King County Councilmember Dow Constantine‘s office points out, the increased capacity will be good for other peak traffic times and heavy ridership situations, such as the the day last year when a deadly accident blocked The Bridge. During the August 10-29 construction period ONLY, an extra WT trip will be offered, at 6:10 am, and two extra shuttle vans will be added to the WT Shuttle routes during “peak hours.” For those of you who like to know where the $ is coming from, the county says the state is picking up the $20K-plus that’s involved here. SIDE NOTE: If you didn’t see our detailed report last Friday afternoon about a proposal to create a new Water Taxi terminal at Pier 1/2 adjacent to Jack Block Park, read it here.
The very nice folks in communications @ the state Transportation Department have e-mailed us a couple times to see how they can help get all of us in WSB-land through the impending Freeway Fright ’07 — the work on northbound I-5, between the far east end of the WS Bridge and the I-90 exit, slated for August 10-29 (unless more stupid summer rain gets in the way). They want to be 1000% sure you have every last bit of info you need to survive — here’s their “project page” (complete with countdown clock!) and blog-post discussion (did you know WSDOT had a blog?). Our question now: what more do you want/need to know about this work and how it will affect traffic? Whatever your question, they seem willing to offer answers.
Days after the city carried out its plan to take out the Avalon crosswalk by Java Bean and Luna Park Cafe, it’s also finally answered a couple of tough questions posed by a concerned citizen.
First time this citizen wrote to the address the city offers for comments/questions, WalkAndBike@seattle.gov, he got what sounded like a standardized reply. So he tried again. That exchange, after the jump: Read More
Looking around at WS pump prices for our now-weekly update, we reflected a bit on what was happening when we started WSGPW with this post three months ago — prices were skyrocketing. 
The highest posted price for unleaded in WS peaked in mid-May, when two stations sold it for $3.49. Tonight, one of those stations, 35th/Holden Chevron, is fifty cents lower (left photo); the lowest posted price in WS tonight is at Delridge Arco, $2.83 (right photo), down 54 cents from its May 11 peak. If you’re interested in the whys and wherefores, this article tries to explain what’s been going on in the gasoline industry.
Harbor Avenue around the northeastern edge of the WS peninsula will be in for big changes if either or both of two ambitious ideas presented at last night’s Alki Community Council meeting become reality. It was emphasized that the two plans are not officially linked — but they have undeniable “synergy.” They involve land adjacent to, and east of, what many describe as West Seattle’s “secret gem,” Jack Block Park.
First: The Pier 1/2 concept for a new Water Taxi dock. It’s an unofficial proposal but may be gaining steam, since most would agree the Water Taxi can’t stay at Seacrest forever (among other things, the parking crunch is just too ridiculous). Pier 1/2 is Port of Seattle property adjacent to Jack Block Park. Much more on this and the other proposal, after the click …Read More
So it seems that before The Commute From Hell became hellish yesterday, it got a little wild. Reader e-mail that just came in:
Did anybody see if the smaller possum that was trundling earnestly up
the center lane (right along the cement divider, not in a traffic lane)
of the eastbound West Seattle freeway at about 7:20 yesterday morning
got up and over the bridge?When I saw him/her, the little feet were scurrying right along, and
however I felt about possums, I wanted him to get to safety!
Just went by to visually confirm a reader tip: The Java Bean/Luna Park crosswalk is gone.
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.
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