West Seattle, Washington
04 Wednesday
Mentioned here on Thursday that the South Park Bridge closures had been rescheduled, and that nighttime work was planned on the West Seattle Bridge next week. New details are in on both plans – read on:Read More
From a big construction roundup just sent around by Delridge Neighborhoods District Coordinator Ron Angeles – these two notes of specific interest – including the rescheduling of the South Park Bridge closures called off last weekend:
– Crews will be working nights on the West Seattle Bridge Feb 8-11 in both directions.
– South Park Bridge to be closed Feb 10-13, 7am-7pm daily
The full roundup, including some previously announced SODO closures, is available online here.
Everything mentioned below unfolded between about 2:30 and 4 pm (see the 911 log):
ORIGINAL 3:43 PM REPORT: Just got e-mail from Megan, a text from Sue and a tweet from Rasmus – a crash at Fauntleroy/Dawson (north of Fairmount Playfield – here’s a map) has closed Fauntleroy in both directions. No other details so far – except that Megan saw no obvious signs anyone was hurt. 3:52 PM: There’s also a “heavy rescue” call – flipped car, according to a comment below this story – at 37th/Juneau. En route to check it out. (added 5:50 pm, Tony Bradley sent a shot of that, no serious injuries reported):
And WSB photojournalist Christopher Boffoli has checked out an earlier call at 48th/Dakota, which he says is sending at least two people to the hospital (added 5:37 pm, video of that scene):
… should be clearing soon, though. Christopher reports, “SPD tells me that an SUV full of tourists (who only arrived in Seattle today) heading west on Dakota failed to yield and struck another SUV that was crossing on 48th. Two being transported to HMC. Firefighters had to use the jaws of life to extract one of the victims from the black SUV.”
4:26 PM: Just drove through Fauntleroy/Dawson – all clear now. Here’s one of Christopher’s photos, showing the debris in the road just before it was cleared:
We’re heading to doublecheck 37th/Juneau scene. 4:40 PM: The car here is about to be towed – 37th is still blocked (residential street) a few houses south of Juneau but should reopen as soon as the tow truck moves on. 4:48 PM: Tow truck’s headed out, 37th open again. So all three crash scenes are clear for your afternoon drive home. 5:22 PM: One more to add to all that – there was a medic call at 16th/Graham we were going to check out, but the call closed before we got there; KIRO flew its chopper over – says a bike rider suffered minor injuries.
5:43 PM UPDATE: Tony Bradley sent that photo of the 16th/Graham incident and reports, “Talking to witnesses, a male bicyclist in his late teens or early twenties was riding his bicycle southbound on 16th in front of the community college and for some reason rode into the back of a small SUV that was parked on the west side of the street. The witness said there was no other vehicle involved. The bike rider fell off the bike and landed in the middle of the southbound lanes of 16th. His injuries appeared minor and he was transported to the hospital in an AMR.”
Once again this weekend, work that was supposed to last till early Monday has instead ended Saturday night: The city has just sent word that the West Seattle Bridge ramp from northbound I-5 is open again. (The note didn’t mention the Columbian Way westbound-to-WS-Bridge ramp status, so we’re checking on that. 7:37 pm update – city spokesperson Alex Fryer says it’s open too.)
From King County Department of Transportation:
The King County Road Service Division is advising motorists that the previously scheduled closure of the South Park Bridge has been postponed due to a delay in obtaining a permit for the work. The bridge had originally been scheduled to close for a four-day period for testing beginning Sat. Jan 30. The testing will be rescheduled for a later date.
11:34 AM UPDATE – The South Park Bridge closures are POSTPONED till a future date.
One more reminder about three closures this weekend that might affect your travels to and from West Seattle:
10 PM TONIGHT THROUGH 5 AM MONDAY: That’s the schedule again this weekend for closures of the northbound I-5 ramp and the westbound Columbian Way ramp to the West Seattle Bridge, both related to the Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project. (Last weekend the work finished fast and both reopened Saturday night.) Details here.
7 AM-7 PM DAILY, SATURDAY THROUGH TUESDAY: The South Park Bridge will be closed to vehicle traffic, and will not open for marine traffic, all four days. Crews plan to do tests related to future construction of a replacement bridge; details here.
The same ramp closures that affected access to West Seattle for part of last weekend as part of the Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project are in the works for this weekend. Read on for the official word from SDOT:Read More
Just in from SDOT:
SDOT’s contractor completed this weekend’s work early and expects to reopen the ramp from northbound I-5 to the West Seattle Bridge early this evening (Saturday, Jan 23). The ramp from Columbian Way (from Beacon Hill) to the West Seattle Bridge will reopen at the same time.
Several long-term closures that began last night (Friday, Jan 22) will remain in place for the Spokane Street Viaduct widening project. Lower Spokane Street from First to Sixth avenues is closed to both east and westbound through traffic. The Fourth Avenue South off- ramp from westbound lanes on the Spokane Street Viaduct is permanently closed.
Starting Monday at 9 a.m., Fourth Avenue South under the viaduct will be restricted to one lane in each direction from S Horton to Industrial Way, and will remain restricted for several weeks.
Today the contractor positioned barriers blocking the Fourth Avenue off-ramp from the westbound lanes of Spokane Street Viaduct. The contractor expects to begin demolition of this ramp next week.
Closures similar to this weekend are planned for next weekend if the weather is favorable. Watch for updates.
9:28 PM UPDATE: SDOT confirms the ramps are open.
TRAFFIC ALERTS: All that activity on and around the section of The Bridge between 99 and I-5, known as the Spokane Street Viaduct, starts happening today. The 4th Avenue South offramp from the westbound side closes forever; westbound lower Spokane St. closes from 6th to 1st for many months; the northbound I-5 ramp to The Bridge and the Columbian Way ramp to The Bridge both close around 10 tonight for the entire weekend, till early Monday. Lots of details, detour maps, etc. at seattle.gov/spokane.
WEST SEATTLE COMMUNITY CENTERS: Fun night at three of them – Family Skate Night at 6:45 at Alki CC, an MLK celebration with arts, crafts, music and spoken-word performance at 6 pm at Hiawatha CC, and Leo the Clown at Delridge CC at 7.
PEOPLE’S PLACE FUNDRAISER: Call it a startup for helping the homeless – “communal transitional housing,” founded by two volunteers including West Seattle’s Christi Stapleton. (We wrote about People’s Place here.) 6:30 tonight at El Centro de la Raza on Beacon Hill, they’re having a fundraiser reception and silent auction (items include “lunch, coffee or drinks with Mayor Mike McGinn“).
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL (INCLUDING HAITI FUNDRAISER @ SEALTH): All three high schools in West Seattle are playing host to visiting teams tonight. At West Seattle High School, Cleveland HS is the visitor, girls’ varsity at 6:15 pm, boys’ varsity at 8 pm. At Chief Sealth High School, Nathan Hale is the visitor, same times – note that a bake sale to raise $ for Haiti relief is planned during the Sealth games. At Seattle Lutheran High School, Tacoma Baptist is the visitor, 6:15 girls’ varsity, 7:45 boys’ varsity.
More on the WSB West Seattle Events page.
That map just sent around by Delridge Neighborhoods District Coordinator Ron Angeles; it expands on the map published here last night when SDOT sent out its latest news release about the upcoming construction-related closures on and around the Spokane Street Viaduct (aka the section of West Seattle Bridge between 99 and I-5). As you can see, this one includes some other closures right outside the general area covered by the original map/info. This expanded list can be found on the city website here – along with a larger, more readable version of the map. Most immediately, as mentioned last night, tomorrow’s the day that the 4th Avenue S. exit from the westbound SSV closes forever, and a longer stretch of lower westbound Spokane Street closes too; plus the West Seattle Bridge ramps from northbound I-5 and Columbian Way on Beacon Hill both will close for the entire weekend, 10 pm tomorrow through 5 am Monday.
We’ve been checking with SDOT today on the aftermath of last week’s Beach Drive slide – and just got new information from Peg Nielsen about work they’ll do tomorrow:
A portion of the southern-most slide will be removed by SDOT crews. An SDOT Urban Forestry crew will trim down a few trees on the hillside in the same general vicinity (more north) to reduce the risk to the right-of-way and Beach Drive. SDOT intends to close Beach Drive for safety purposes from 9 a.m. until the crews complete the work, which should be approximately 4 p.m. While the road is closed, a detour around the slide area will be provided from Atlas Place SW to 49th Avenue SW to SW Canada Drive. Residents will be allowed limited access. The city will continue to evaluate the condition of the slide area daily.
That southern section of the slide moved further into the roadway yesterday, according to a photo a WSB’er sent us (above). We also asked SDOT a question we were asked via Facebook: Are they evaluating the slide zone to see if anything related to development upslope might have factored into this and resulted in property owner liability? Nielsen’s reply:
SDOT’s focus now is to safeguard public and private property. We are, however, documenting the situation while waiting for a geotechnical report that will recommend the best ways to stabilize the slope.
Thanks to @raypage on Twitter for almost immediate word of a crash that’s affecting traffic in the south end of The Junction – a motorcycle-car crash. Ray says the cyclist does not appear to be seriously hurt. The photo above is an overview of the scene, also via Twitter, from @kurtricketts. Ray has images from the scene here. 5 PM UPDATE: We were en route to check on the traffic situation when Brian from TouchTech Systems e-mailed an update – he says the ambulance has taken the motorcyclist away, and the scene’s now clear, traffic back to normal.
Thanks to Nathan for the tip about a water-main problem at 35th/106th (map) in Arbor Heights. 106th west of 35th is closed at that spot, where a backhoe-equipped crew is working, but 35th traffic is not affected – except for one thing to keep in mind later: Southbound lanes are wet for a few blocks south of 106th, and that could be trouble as temperatures drop, though we also spotted an SDOT truck nearby, so the situation should be on their radar.
Reminder that the ramp from the east end of The Bridge to northbound I-5 is scheduled to be closed from right about now through about 8 am tomorrow, as WSDOT works to install “smart” overhead signs.
WSDOT sent out the alert on Monday – now that the closure’s just a day away, here’s the reminder: From late tomorrow night, overnight into Sunday morning, the ramp from The Bridge to I-5 northbound will be closed, while crews install more “Smarter Highways” overhead signs, as part of a multi-mile northbound shutdown from Boeing Access Road to I-90. Full details in our original alert here.
Thanks to Brian and Christopher for the tips – at least one car is stalled at the top of The Bridge, backing up westbound traffic all the way to I-5.
Before the weekend, we mentioned the sign project that closed part of I-5 south of West Seattle last weekend and was scheduled to expand northward this weekend. Just got word from WSDOT that will include closing a ramp from The Bridge to I-5 – read on:Read More
ORIGINAL 3:35 PM REPORT: Thanks to the person who texted us an alert on this: East of White Center, on the south side of Highland Park, eastbound traffic on Roxbury is backing up in a big way because of a crash at Roxbury/Olson (here’s a map; just before the big hill down to South Park). We’re on our way to the area to check it out. 3:44 PM UPDATE: Officers are turning people around at 8th SW – that affects people driving eastbound from White Center as well as southbound from Highland Park. 5:10 PM UPDATE: Just went back to check – the scene’s now clear and everything’s open in time for evening rush hour.
Heads up for late-night drivers, especially if you’re going to a holiday party someplace to the south: Northbound I-5, starting just south of West Seattle, will have a six-mile shutdown overnight tomorrow (Saturday night into Sunday), and an even-more-extensive one next Saturday, for sign installation. Read on for the full details from WSDOT:Read More
From SDOT:
Tomorrow, Friday, December 4, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Seattle Department of Transportation crews will close the left lane of Alaskan Way Viaduct northbound at Massachusetts Street. During the closure, the crew will install a temporary railing until a permanent repair can be made. The guard rail was damaged by a recent one-car accident. Motorists should expect slowing and use caution through the work zone.
Just got this from Kristina, and WSDOT has also tweeted it: The 1st Avenue South bridge’s northbound side is stuck open. No word yet on how soon that’ll be fixed. Big backup stuck behind it. 3:12 PM UPDATE: And good news, it’s been fixed, traffic should be back to normal shortly.
So far we’ve gotten texts about a couple of “huge puddles” that are causing some commute trouble, including one at West Marginal Way/Highland Park Way, and also where Delridge meets The Bridge – given the overnight downpour, certainly there are others, so give yourself extra time when you head out.
First, a reminder about work on The Bridge (eastbound) today and tomorrow, starting at 7 am (detailed here). Second, a schedule update for the paving on Beach Drive between Oregon and Snoqualmie – it will be down to one lane, with a flagger, tomorrow from 7 am till “early afternoon” as crews do the actual paving. Sidewalks will stay open, says SDOT.
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