1:37 PM: More Monday road woes – just got a text about a crash at 8th and Roxbury, and the 911 log shows a 2-unit dispatch. (added) It’s on the westbound side, and Seattle Police have called for extra reinforcement to manage traffic, so avoid the area if you can. We’re en route for a look.

1:52 PM UPDATE: Per the scanner, the crash is actually a hit-and-run, and they’re looking for a driver described as female, in her 30s, 5-foot-5, blue shirt, blue pants. Our crew just arrived and is trying to find out more about that, but also reports that westbound traffic is being diverted onto 7th SW. At least one person is hurt; an ambulance is on scene.

2:13 PM UPDATE: Added a photo. Police tell us that the car in the foreground, with the least damage, is the one whose driver left the scene; the one behind it, with more damage, is the one whose driver was taken to the hospital.

(Latest “live” picture looking at eastbound WS Bridge – refresh page for newest image)
TRAFFIC NOTE #1: As announced last week, today’s the day SDOT plans to inspect the west end of the West Seattle Bridge – the Fauntleroy Expressway section, which has been getting an earthquake-safety retrofit since last year – which means “rolling slowdowns” between 8 am and 3 pm. Here again is how they explain it:

The inspection team will establish short-term lane closures of the right-hand lane using truck-mounted traffic warning devices. The inspection will begin near West Seattle and move westbound. The inspection team will make short-term (15 minutes) stops at any given location along the bridge deck. After completing the westbound route the team will then inspect eastbound, toward Downtown Seattle, also along the right hand lane. The entire inspection will be completed by 3:00 p.m.

TRAFFIC NOTE #2, ADDED AT 7:26 AM: Not sure how long this will last, but we just caught word of a truck crash on northbound I-5 at the Ship Canal Bridge that is causing problems through downtown – so if you usually take I-5, be forewarned, it’s slower going right now, and traffic reporters are advising 99 as an alternative, so that may be busier than usual.

8:06 AM UPDATE: WSDOT says the I-5 crash scene is clear now, but the backup will take a while longer to clear since it’s heavy-traffic commute time.

Also from SDOT – heads-up for “rolling slowdowns” on the West Seattle Bridge next Monday:

The Seattle Department of Transportation will be inspecting the Fauntleroy Expressway bridge deck on April 30th between 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. The inspection team will establish short-term lane closures of the right hand lane using truck-mounted traffic warning devices. The inspection will begin near West Seattle and move westbound. The inspection team will make short-term (15 minutes) stops at any given location along the bridge deck. After completing the westbound route the team will then inspect eastbound, toward Downtown Seattle, also along the right hand lane. The entire inspection will be completed by 3:00 p.m.

This is part of the Fauntleroy Expressway Seismic Retrofit Project; we took an up-close look at some of the earlier work for this story back in January.

(Photo by Wendy Hughes-Jelen)
Thanks to Bill and Wendy for word of a crash at 35th/Morgan. Bill says no injuries are reported; Wendy says one car is involved that went “straight into the corner, took out the street tree, and hit two U-Haul vehicles. … Antifreeze or something is hissing from the engine compartment because of the tree damage. Front bumper is on sidewalk behind vehicle now.” Both have shared photos.

(Photo by Bill Bacon)
3:19 PM: Two photos added. No SFD medic unit sent to the scene, which would be confirmation that if there were any injuries, they weren’t major.

3:31 PM UPDATE: Just drove through 35th/Morgan – no traffic impediments on 35th; the westbound lane on Morgan by U-Haul (northwest side of the intersection) should clear soon, since the tow trucks is already there to take away the car that hit the U-Haul vehicles.

(Photo courtesy Mary from Service Dog Academy)
Sorry we missed the chance to bring you real-time updates during what by multiple accounts was a bad hour or so on the eastbound West Seattle Bridge this morning. We are trying to reach SDOT to see what they can tell us, but a couple of WSB’ers have mentioned road work – possibly painting crews – which were not mentioned in any advance traffic advisories, so far as we can tell; there were no scheduled closures for the weekend, nothing till another round of overnight-only southbound 99/Viaduct closures during the weeknights next week. Though everything seems to be OK now – at least according to the cameras on the WSB Traffic page – let us know if you encounter otherwise. (And if/when you can, please text or voice-call about something like this – even if we’re offline for a bit, which we were because of a panel discussion before the Gathering of Neighbors today, the text/voice calls break through IMMEDIATELY, whatever we’re doing, 24/7 – 206-293-6302 – consider putting it in your phone “contacts” list; traffic is “breaking news” too! Thanks!)

12:26 PM UPDATE: Rick Sheridan from SDOT says it wasn’t their fault:

We’re sorry to hear drivers were delayed. While we are restriping the high-rise bridge today, the earlier collision was the cause of the traffic problem. According to staff on site at the time, traffic was backed up prior to beginning our work and delayed us as well.

Once emergency response dealt with the incident, traffic problems dissipated. The SDOT live cameras show traffic is flowing smoothly now.

The only crash on the 911 log was at 6:53 am (though it doesn’t show non-injury crashes or stalls).

Just in from SDOT:

Engineers will conduct routine load tests today on the Delridge Way SW on- and off-ramps to the West Seattle high-level bridge to measure the effects of heavy trucks. Drivers may experience delays of 10 minutes at a time on three occasions between noon and 4 p.m. Also, drivers may be briefly delayed by traffic flaggers under the bridge on Delridge Way SW at times today until 6 p.m. Please plan ahead and allow extra time to reach your destination.

If you don’t drive in the late-night/early-morning hours, you won’t notice, but the state just issued another reminder of these partial Viaduct/99 closures the next two nights (mentioned in THIS WEEK’S CLOSURES atop the TOP STORIES list on the WSB sidebar):

Crews working for the Washington State Department of Transportation will close the southbound State Route 99 Alaskan Way Viaduct for the next two nights to continue work to reinforce both decks of a two-block section of the viaduct between South Washington and Columbia streets in Pioneer Square.

Protecting this section of the viaduct is important because crews will drive the tunnel boring machine beneath it in late 2013.

Closure details:

· Tuesday, April 10 – the morning of Thursday, April 12 – Southbound SR 99 between the West Seattle Bridge and the Battery Street Tunnel will close nightly from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. The Elliott Avenue and Columbia Street on-ramps to southbound SR 99 will also close.

Both nights, there’s ALSO a city-project closure, as also forewarned earlier – the eastbound Spokane Street Viaduct, same hours. If you are expecting to drive at that time, do read the entire city alert, because some surface/ramp changes might affect you even if the major bridge shutdown doesn’t.

In addition to this weekend’s Alaskan Way Viaduct/Highway 99 closure – planned for 11 pm tonight till 5 am Monday, between the Battery Street Tunnel and West Seattle Bridge – more closures have been announced for next week, on 99 *and* the Spokane Street Viaduct:

*Next Monday night (April 9-10): Eastbound Spokane Street Viaduct closed 10 pm-5 am. (That’s the WS Bridge between 99 and I-5.) Some surface changes too – explained here.

*Next Tuesday AND Wednesday nights: Eastbound Spokane Street Viaduct closed 10 pm-5 am, ALSO southbound SR 99 between the Battery St. Tunnel and the West Seattle Bridge will close the same hours.

*The big move of ALL Spokane Street Viaduct traffic onto the new (north side) structure might happen as soon as next Thursday. All four lanes of traffic – two each way – will be on what will eventually be the westbound-only side, while the old structure on the south side gets fixed up for the final rejoining when everything’s done “in late summer” (new estimate).

During this time, the 1st Avenue South eastbound offramp will remain open, but the 4th Avenue South offramp will be closed. Details here, including some added changes on the surface streets.

3:26 PM: Two traffic alerts – one RIGHT NOW, one for overnight tonight. First, southbound I-5 is blocked at I-90 because of a truck crash. Here’s the current webcam view of the scene:

WSDOT says backups stretch all the way to Northgate. So if you are headed this way from anywhere NORTH of I-90, do NOT use southbound I-5 – use 99 or surface streets.

3:51 PM UPDATE: Tow trucks are at the scene on I-5. However, note that southbound 99 is reported to be slow going – here’s a webcam:

AND also slow, according to one commenter, 1st Avenue South. So the best advice might be, for now, just stay put till this has a chance to get straightened out.

4:24 PM UPDATE: Southbound I-5 has been cleared and reopened. Our standard caveat, though – remember that backups don’t clear instantly, so things may still be slow through the commute.

(back to original report) Second, SDOT just announced the westbound Spokane Street Viaduct will be closed overnight tonight after all, 10 pm-5 am, for the fourth consecutive night – and again, that means you will not be able to get onto the West Seattle Bridge from I-5 or Beacon Hill during those hours (access from 99 will NOT be affected). They are still working on plans for this weekend and next week. (But remember, the Alaskan Way Viaduct is already scheduled to close from Friday night till Monday morning.)

10:26 PM: Another crash potentially affecting West Seattle-bound drivers: It’s on southbound Highway 99, reported as parallel with Lander but not showing on that camera – rescue crews are getting on 99 by heading the “wrong way” up a ramp near the stadiums. The scanner says there’s “ongoing CPR” at the scene, so this might not clear for a while.

10:37 PM UPDATE: Per scanner – southbound 99 is completely closed by this, and they’ve blocked off onramps as well (including Denny/Aurora and Columbia downtown). They’re also trying to figure out what to do with cars that were already on 99 since as one voice on the radio said, “We’re going to be closed here for a while” – they may be trying to turn them around and get them off 99 via what would have been an onramp. We got a Twitter update from one stuck driver:

The seriously injured person is described as a motorcyclist in her 40s who is being rushed to Harborview Medical Center right now.

11 PM UPDATE: The “wrong way off the onramp” operation to clear vehicles off The Viaduct has indeed happened. And in comments, Karl clarifies the location, saying it’s parallel with Weller, on the lower deck of what’s left of the double-deck structure.

2:39 PM UPDATE: Watching the webcam for southbound 99 at Lander, we’re seeing occasional headlights, so it looks like the highway reopened.

8:10 AM UPDATE: Seattle Police have published a summary on SPD Blotter. Investigators believe the 48-year-old rider “failed to negotiate a curve” at the Viaduct’s south end and hit a concrete barrier.

2:56 PM: LA, in comments, says the motorcyclist was a friend of hers and did not survive. We had not yet confirmed that before her comment, but everything we were hearing indicated that too.

Thanks to the WSB’er who just texted us to point out there’s a crash on the westbound West Seattle Bridge, on the upslope. You can see it in the left westbound lanes in the east-facing camera image above (at least as of when we checked it). No word yet about injuries but there’s a sizable fire response and scanner traffic says it’s blocking three lanes. If you are outside West Seattle and headed this way – go for the low bridge or the 1st Avenue South bridge TFN.

ADDED 7:29 PM: It’s a multiple-vehicle crash and right now traffic is only “creeping by” (as described on the scanner) via the shoulders, as shown by this photo we just received:

Some of the Seattle Fire responders have been cleared from the scene, per the scanner, which is our sole source of information as this is an area virtually impossible to get to for in-person reporting.

8:09 PM UPDATE: Looks like the scene should be clear soon, as the updated webcam shows tow trucks are there.

8:15 PM UPDATE: And the scanner confirms … all lanes now open.

Just in from SDOT:

Our Street Maintenance paving crews plan to resurface California Avenue Southwest between Southwest Hudson and Southwest Dawson streets [map] toward the end of next week. They expect to keep the street open to both directions of travel as well as the sidewalks. The schedule is weather dependent — both for completing the projects they are doing before this one, and for this project.

They’re promising an official advisory when they have a better idea of exactly which day(s). This will be the fifth block of California SW south of The Junction to get repaved/resurfaced in the past half-year – last September, it was the block from Edmunds to Hudson, and then in December, it was Findlay to Graham.

Remember “Viadoom” last October? Yeah, not so much “doom,” but traffic is always a hotbutton issue around here. During the demolition closure, West Seattleite Andi Rusu came up with a simple app that could be used on a mobile device or regular computer, featuring traffic cams, and announced it in an October 10th WSB comment. Now, Andi has made some changes, and wanted to share the app with you again:

I just finished improving the UI and adding a WS DOT travel times feed that shows distances, average and current travel times to and from different points around Seattle. Also in the app, there is a traffic map along with the last 5 WS DOT tweets.

This is an all free web app; anyone can use it either with a computer or smart phone. (iPhone works best…) I hope people will continue to find it useful.

Winter officially ends when the spring equinox arrives at 10:14 pm tonight. But nobody told the weather it’s almost spring. A really cold night, following a rainy Sunday afternoon, has left some roads “slick,” as K describes the West Seattle Bridge as of moments ago. We’re keeping closer watch on the morning commute as a result; be careful!

8:50 AM UPDATE: Via Twitter, SDOT reports a stalled car on the eastbound bridge. No word on exactly where, but the traffic camera view (refresh for the newest image) shows the backup.

Three notes of interest in the weekly list of closures/changes, just out: First – next Friday night, March 22nd, southbound Highway 99 is scheduled to close overnight between Denny Way and S. Spokane St. … We first told you last week about the Alaskan Way Viaduct closure planned for early March 24th through early March 26th, for the semi-annual inspection; that’s still on the list. … From March 26th through April 6th, the 1st Avenue South offramp from the eastbound West Seattle Bridge is scheduled to be closed around the clock for surface paving. The 4th Avenue “loop” offramp will stay open. … More details of all this can be found here.