1:41 PM: You wouldn’t expect to encounter a backup on the West Seattle Bridge on a holiday – but there’s one on the eastbound side now because of a crash that we’re told is between Nucor and the crest. Seattle Fire‘s response cleared quickly, suggesting no major injuries, but with the backup, wait a while to head that way if you have to. (A couple of key SDOT cameras aren’t working today, so we don’t have a view of the scene; thanks for the tips.)

2:02 PM: Update from SDOT via Twitter:

Thanks also to Jean-Paul for this view:

2:20 PM: Thanks to Tim for the update in the comment section – scene’s clear, backup should clear soon.

2:41 PM: If you’re seeing the emergency response on Harbor Avenue at the bottom of California Way, by Seacrest, a vehicle is reported to have hit a pedestrian. Injuries weren’t serious, if any; the pedestrian was reported to be the person who made the 911 call and was reported to have been declining medical assistance.

(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Good morning and welcome to the last day of 2014. Again today, Metro is on its “reduced weekday” schedule.

ADMIRAL ALERT: Crews worked late into the night at the bottom of the Admiral Way hill, just north of the bridge, at the scene of a water-line break. From the comment thread on our afternoon/evening story, Val has the first report on this morning’s conditions:

Went through there southbound just before 3:00 am and all the work has been completed. Northbound lanes have a couple of rough, bumpy patches in them but otherwise everything looked open. There has been an attempt at sanding and salting or whatever it is we use around here but it was still icy. Today more than ever slow down if you are coming down the hill. Hit the turn to Avalon or the curved on ramp and under 20 and you should be fine. It’s not even supposed to get to 40 degrees today so the ice in this area might be there a couple of days.

We’re headed over shortly for a look.

8:20 AM: Here’s an Instagram video cliplet (:15) how it looks as you head downhill there, which we just did:

Also from north West Seattle, another road-ice report, via Twitter:

(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)

Good morning! Second-to-last day of 2014:

*Again today, Metro is on the “reduced weekday” schedule.

*This is the second day of SDOT‘s planned three-day one-lane closure on California Way, between Harbor and Ferry, for retaining-wall work.

*Bonus: Check out the first of the two new Water Taxis – we spotted the photos in a small, unannounced slideshow on the Water Taxi website early today:

Go there to see more images of the Sally Fox, which will be on the Vashon run when it’s ready to go in 2015; right behind it will be the Doc Maynard, on the West Seattle run. Talking with Greg Lerner of the King County Transportation Department‘s Marine Division earlier this month, we had asked for images of the under-construction Water Taxis, but hadn’t heard/seen anything until stumbling onto this.

11:43 AM: We are getting reports of water on the road along Admiral north of the bridge. Checking on the cause.

(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Good morning! Last Monday of the year – notes/alerts:

*Metro is on its “reduced weekday” schedule.
*Washington State Ferries is now on its winter schedule.
*SDOT plans to close a lane on California Way, between Harbor and Ferry, for 3 days of retaining-wall work, starting today.
*School’s still out for one more week.

7:47 AM: Just in via text alert, the Vashon Water Taxi’s next round trip (7:40 am from Seattle, 8:15 from Vashon) is canceled because of high wind.

Heads up for the next three days: SDOT plans to close a lane each day on California Way SW between Harbor and Ferry Avenues (map), so it can clear vegetation from the retaining wall on the west side of the road. If you drive/ride California Way, you know it’s narrow enough as it is, one lane each way; SDOT says flaggers will be there to help you get through. (The announcement didn’t include specific work hours, so assume this could start as early as 7 am .)

(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Good morning! First note this morning – if you’ve driven the bridge after dark/before dawn in the past few days, you’ve probably noticed the light outage (visible in the top-left camera here, if you see this early enough). We’ve heard from multiple sources, including SDOT, that City Light is aware of it – we’ll be checking today on the repair timetable.

TRANSIT TODAY: Metro remains on the “reduced weekday” schedule today.

(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Probably more holiday travelers than headed-to-work commuters on the road this morning, but just in case you have to head out, here’s our usual complement of cameras, plus reminders about the transit changes:

TODAY (Christmas Eve): Metro is on its “reduced weekday” schedule.

TOMORROW (Christmas Day): Metro will be on the Sunday schedule; the Water Taxi will *not* run; Sound Transit Route 560 will be on its Sunday schedule; Washington State Ferries‘ Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth run will be on a normal schedule.

(WSB photos: Vehicles at the lower end of the crash scene, W. Marginal/HP Way)
4:14 PM: Big emergency response to West Marginal Way SW and Highland Park Way SW, where a reported crash started as a small response but has grown to half a dozen SFD units – three vehicles and five people hurt. Avoid the area if you can. It’s been raining heavily for a while now so it’s a challenge to get just about anywhere.

4:44 PM: We are at the crash scene. It’s at the bottom of HP Way hill, blocking uphill lanes. Downhill getting through but slowly – avoid.

4:49 PM: We are told 4 vehicles were involved, 4 people taken to the hospital but no life-threatening injuries so TCIS is -not- being called out. Tow trucks are starting to arrive.

(Vehicle at upper end of crash scene, HP Way westbound/uphill lanes – firefighters had to cut away part of it to get someone out)
5:17 PM: Again, even though some traffic is getting through, avoid the area until there’s word everything is cleared – it’s slow going even in the directions that are open – we are back at HQ (adding photos), and West Marginal to the south (White Center-bound) was slow too. Even though TCIS won’t be involved, clearing the scene will likely take some time, with four vehicles plus debris to be cleared.

6:07 PM: Texter says the scene is clear – Metro has also messaged that Route 131, which goes through that area, is back to normal.

(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
7:13 AM: Relatively light commute so far, all around the region.

Transit reminder: Metro service is normal (except for the “no UW” cancellations) again today, but then schedule changes start tomorrow and continue through New Year’s Day – the “reduced weekday” schedule will be in effect tomorrow, for starters, meaning some local routes don’t run at all.

P.S. The Water Taxi will NOT run on Christmas Day.

8:04 AM: TW notes in a comment that the 1st/Horton light has been undergoing repairs, and there’s been a bit of backup coming off the bridge at 1st.

(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
6:57 AM: Today marks the start of what we’ll call holiday week #1 – first week of winter break for schools, meaning more people on vacation overall, which should mean lighter traffic.

Metro service is normal (except for the “no UW” cancellations) today and tomorrow, and then reduced service kicks in through New Year’s Day; the “reduced weekday” schedule starts Wednesday (Christmas Eve) and continues through the first Friday of the year (except for Christmas and New Year’s Days, both Sunday schedules).

11:29 AM: If you are headed this way via I-5 northbound, from somewhere to the south, be forewarned there is a 2-mile backup because of an incident just south of the exit to the West Seattle Bridge, per WSDOT.

Thanks to everyone who’s been telling us about this one – a crash is blocking the right lane of southbound 99 before the exit to the westbound West Seattle Bridge. The most recent update suggests traffic is backed up to the stadiums, so if you have to head toward West Seattle, you might consider an alternate route, or waiting a while. (Note that we don’t have a camera on this, so we won’t know immediately when it’s clear.)

(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
It’s the final Friday of fall – with winter officially arriving at 3:03 pm Sunday. It’s also the last day of school before a two-week break; Seattle Public Schools students get out one hour early today.

(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Good morning! Heading for the heart of the commute, nothing unusual in this area so far.

8:41 AM: Just off the bridge – downtown assignment this morning. Smooth and relatively swift; 10 minutes from south of Morgan Junction all the way to the 4th Ave. offramp. Motorcycle officer standing guard at the gore point by the offramp to 99.

(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Good morning! No major commute problems on the routes through/from West Seattle so far.

7:11 AM: From the 911 log/scanner, a crash at West Marginal Way S./Holden, blocking northbound lanes by the interchange onto 99 as it heads for the 1st Ave. S. Bridge.

7:27 AM: Update, blocking one lane. Meantime, scanner mentions a crash at 11th/Spokane, which would be by the low bridge, but the traffic camera there isn’t working (one of the bridge cameras also is out of service, as you might have noticed above); no SFD dispatch.

7:40 AM: From scanner, Delridge/Juneau traffic signal is “stuck in yellow”; police tried to fix but are going to have to call out SDOT, and traffic is backing up as a result.

9:45 AM: Just back from checking Delridge/Juneau – signal is working now, SDOT was still there, as we tweeted:

We also noted via Twitter that just south of the STEM/Arbor Heights school zone, one of SPD’s Aggressive Driving Response Team vehicles had pulled someone over.

(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Good morning! As we start today’s traffic watch, a request for collaboration:

SAFER ROUTES TO SCHOOL? TELL THE CITY! As someone pointed out via e-mail, the West Seattle section of this new SDOT map, intended for crowdsourcing/visualizing your Safe Routes to School ideas, is a little bare. Someplace you would like to see a safety improvement? Use the map, as explained here, ASAP!

(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Good morning! Nothing unusual on the routes we watch in/from West Seattle, so far.

TODAY’S BIG TRANSPORTATION STORY … is likely to be the City Council briefings from WSDOT and SDOT this morning, on the “settling” in the Viaduct vicinity and on plans in case it has to be closed. The meeting starts at 9:30 am (here’s the agenda) and will be live on Seattle Channel (online and cable).

Reminder that southbound 35th SW will be closed for at least part of the day south of Avalon, as crews finish the tower-crane installation work at the 4435 35th SW mixed-use project. Here’s the Metro reroute info for the C Line, 21, and 50. One northbound lane has been closed, too; here’s our Saturday coverage – we’ll be checking in again today.

10 AM: Just went by – road is fully open again, crane complete.

(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
No major problems lingering in West Seattle from last night’s wind, and nothing major on the routes through/from here either, so far.

WEEKEND ALERT FOR 35TH SW: One more reminder that you’ll want to avoid 35th SW between Avalon and Alaska tomorrow and at least part of Sunday – the road is scheduled to be closed for tower-crane installation. From the contractor:

We are approved by the City of Seattle to close all 4 lanes on 35th AVE SW adjacent our jobsite (4435 35th Ave) to erect our tower crane. The plan is to roll on site at 5:30 am Saturday with our mobile crane so we can start work by 8:00 am. Weather permitting, we’ll have the crane put together on Saturday and come back Sunday to remove our mobile crane. Though we are permitted to work until 10 PM with the lane closures, we are confident (weather permitting) we will be out of there by noon. Again, we apologize in advance for any inconveniences this may cause to your weekend commutes.

This means Saturday/Sunday reroutes for Metro Route 21, Route 50, and RapidRide C Line – details here.

(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Stormy weather forecast later, but it’s calm right now, with nothing out of the ordinary on routes through/from West Seattle.

WEEKEND TRAFFIC ALERT: Tower-crane installation for 4435 35th SW will affect travel on 35th between Avalon and Alaska both days this weekend.

7:41 AM: Just dispatched – crash reported as eastbound high bridge to northbound 99. Two-vehicle crash, per scanner. See top left bridge cam.

7:54 AM: From the camera view, looks like buses are making it around too.

8:22 AM: The camera shows the scene on the ramp is now clear – police were the last emergency vehicle(s) in view until just a couple moments ago.

TRANSPORTATION HEADLINES: Published here since Wednesday’s roundup:
*City’s traffic-management center expanding hours; Highway 99 crash closure reviewed
*WSTC meeting report #1: Early warning of “low bridge” closures?
*WSTC meeting report #2: Speed up RapidRide? Yes. Reroute in The Junction? No.

P.S. And in Viaduct-related news elsewhere, Publicola has published what it says is a WSDOT map showing the extent of the settling.

(WS high/low bridges and Highway 99 views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
Relatively calm weather right now – which is expected to change later – and nothing out of the ordinary reported on the roads/paths in our area, so far.

TRANSPORTATION NEWS: In the latest update on the Viaduct/tunnel project and concerns about “settling,” WSDOT reported that the tunnel contractor was expected to dig a few more feet – probably until sometime today – before stopping to evaluate and decide what to do next. … Lots of info at last night’s West Seattle Transportation Coalition meeting (as you know if you follow WSB on Twitter) – watch for full reports later today …

7:34 AM: The “low bridge” is closed, SDOT has tweeted (you can check the lower-right image above to see when it reopens). Progress toward earlier warning of impending closures is part of what emerged at last night’s WSTC meeting – right now, SDOT basically can only tweet when the opening (for marine traffic) is happening.

REMINDER – FINAL DAY OF BIG POUR: Watch out for big truck traffic again today headed to and from the Murray Combined Sewer Overflow Project at Lowman Beach. We checked with King County Wastewater Treatment’s Doug Marsano late Tuesday and he confirmed the pour would wrap up today.