Home › Forums › Open Discussion › POLL: What time do you hit the bridge in the morning?
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October 21, 2014 at 3:32 pm #612990
beaglenutMemberDrama free post today, promise. :)
I can’t remember the source (Kiro maybe?) but I saw a clip over the weekend where they talking about traffic trackings apps and how everyone is now hitting the road at the same time thinking it’s the best time to do it…
I’ve always tried to hit the bridge by 7:20 and until the last month or so it’s been “worth it” (now not at all).
Just curious, when do each of you try to reach it by?
October 21, 2014 at 3:38 pm #815268
sacatoshParticipant6:45. Any later and it starts to get to be a cluster****. 6:35 is even better. If I get on at 6:50, it’s backed up already. Moving, but dense, and more people doing stupid things like stopping prior to trying to merge (massive eyeroll.)
October 21, 2014 at 3:44 pm #815269
SueParticipantI commute by bus, but my bus arrives on the bridge around 7:30 – 7:35 or so. I drive in a few times a year when I need the car to go north after work for an appointment. When I moved to WS 8 years ago I used to be able to leave the Triangle area by 7:40 and could be in work (Seneca/3rd) by 8am. Then it became 7:30. Then 7:15. I’m sure it’s closer to 7 now (haven’t done it in a while). The traffic is really getting bad (and that’s coming from someone from NYC).
October 21, 2014 at 3:52 pm #815270
beaglenutMember7:20 has turned into 6:45? Yikes! I would be more than willing to hit it then if it weren’t for the office being closed by the time I’d get here.
Oh man, you know you’re in trouble when a New Yorker tells you it’s bad. I had a friend move to LA last year and say the thing about Seattle.
Anyone see the accident this morning (I rode by it at 7:30)? It goes without saying I feel bad and am glad everyone was okay – but getting into accident on the hill before the bridge even officially starts? C’mon! It was clearly during the stop and go too – I’m confident a cell phone (or someone missing their morning coffee) was to blame. Ugh!
I’ve changed my thinking to just accepting it. No point in getting frustrated anymore. No high hopes of things changing any time soon.
October 21, 2014 at 5:23 pm #815271
trickycooljParticipantSame goes for the 1st Ave bridge. Before 7:30 it’s good. 7:30-8:30 it’s a slog especially if you get stuck in the garbage truck or school bus parade. 8:30-9:00 it’s decent but by 9:00 sharp you risk the bridge going up.
October 21, 2014 at 5:36 pm #815272
beaglenutMemberAny idea what time the main bridge starts cooling off?
October 21, 2014 at 5:58 pm #815273
wakefloodParticipantI don’t know if others concur as I don’t do the commute every day but it seems like in fall after school gets back in is the worst, for some reason? Weather changes, folks used to the faster commute during summer break, etc.? Maybe it’s my imagination?
That’s not to say that the other seasons are much better (spring with the sun right in your eyes!)…
October 21, 2014 at 6:09 pm #815274
lazybeardParticipantI’m normally on the bridge by 6:15 and its smooth sailing to I5 South.
October 21, 2014 at 6:19 pm #815275
cjboffoliParticipantReal New Yorkers don’t complain about traffic because they take the subway or walk.
October 21, 2014 at 6:21 pm #815276
beaglenutMember6:15??? You’re killing me here man!
October 21, 2014 at 6:23 pm #815277
beaglenutMember@wakeflood – you do have a point there. But you have to admit it’s only getting worse. Even before the summer 7:20 ensured a 25 minute commute to downtown at the most. Now it’s more like 45. :(
October 21, 2014 at 6:38 pm #815278
miwsParticipantwake, you bring up a good point.
In the Fall, school is back in session, so you’ll have more school buses on the road, and I would guess, perhaps a token amount of parents driving their kid(s) to a school outside of WS. Also, UW, and other colleges are back in session.
Plus, everybody is back from Summer vacations, which may have actually lessened the traffic throughout the Summer.
Mike
October 21, 2014 at 7:16 pm #815279
clark5080Participant9:10 and it’s a real crapshoot. on Days when the WSBridge is clogged I use the 1st south bridge but today everywhere was still backed up at 9:10
October 21, 2014 at 7:34 pm #815280
wakefloodParticipantYeah, Mike, maybe we can add a new “dark season” acronym to the lexicon: SAT Seasonally Affected Traffic?
October 21, 2014 at 8:18 pm #815281
skeeterParticipantI think there are something like 3,000 living units under construction in West Seattle. So traffic is going to get much, much worse.
Last summer my family bike commuted quite a bit over the lower bridge. But now that the weather is getting lousy I’m too much of a wimp. If the traffic continues to increase, though, we’ll have to bike in both good weather and bad. No way can my wife and I sit in traffic an hour each way.
October 21, 2014 at 8:23 pm #815282
wakefloodParticipantThe WS Transportation Coalition has posted its 5 top priorities and given them to the City/SDOT. They start with improved direct bus access to and from Downtown. The city says that the engineering is doable – we need to press on with funding and figuring logistics.
If you want change, you have to work for it. That’s just life in the big, crowded city. :-)
October 21, 2014 at 8:52 pm #815283
beaglenutMemberSomeone was advocating dedicating a lane of the West-bound strip to East-bound morning commuters. I like that idea.
October 21, 2014 at 9:27 pm #815284
anonymous123ParticipantI carpool anyways, but if there were more buses that were a straight shot from West Seattle to Bellevue/east-side area I would take the bus instead.. The 560 goes straight from my house to my work, but it stops at Burien, SeaTac, and Renton before making it to Bellevue…
October 21, 2014 at 9:27 pm #815285
jissyParticipantI do vacation fill-in so I’m going different places on different days but I definitely concur with Wake about back to school adding quite a bit of time. I can be on the bridge at 6:05 and be in Issaquah by 6:30. And will leave by 7:10 to make it to Greenlake by 8:00, then grab breakfast at PCC or WholeFoods to work at 8:30 — it’s SO worth leaving early to head north and just do breakfast when I get there. Once school is back in session I leave at least 10 minutes earlier to get to each place.
October 21, 2014 at 9:29 pm #815286
squareeyesParticipantI left the house today at 8:10am and got to work at South Lake Union at 9:00am. Today was worse than usual – 40 minutes is typical.
With all the construction (and population growth?) I’ve noticed it’s taking longer just to get to the bridge these days – weekends included.
October 21, 2014 at 9:41 pm #815287
Wes C. AddleParticipantI leave on the bus at 7:00 and end up at the bus tunnel downtown at around 7:20. Not bad I don’t think. If we didn’t have a dedicated bus lane we wouldn’t get there until about 8 am I’d imagine.
October 21, 2014 at 9:46 pm #815288
beaglenutMemberWhat stands out to me most is you guys are spending the same time commuting as I do, but making it way further. 40 minutes today from just off the bridge to the pacific building downtown. Sad. :(
October 21, 2014 at 10:06 pm #815289
sacatoshParticipantFor clarification on my earlier comment, I carpool as well, drop off the spouse and then head to my workplace. If we leave before 6:30, total trip to my workplace is 20 min. If we leave at 6:50, total trip is at least 45 min. Used to be we could leave at 7:05-7:15 and make it in 20. Yeah, it’s gotten worse.
October 22, 2014 at 2:42 am #815290
TrickParticipantI hit the bridge at 8am, takes me about 40 mins to clear the Mt Baker tunnel from the bridge, arrive in North Bend by 9:10’ish.
Wakeflood is right, summer is much better.
Besides, when it’s slow, I see at least a dozen or so West Seattllites paying homage to their cell phones in stop and go traffic everyday on the Bridge. It’s really no surprise at the fender benders that happen.
October 22, 2014 at 3:59 am #815291
mark47nParticipantI watch you all on the bridge from the equipment mezzanine where the high voltage filters are at Nucor. Sometimes I wave. That 2 mile commute is a real pain.
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