West Seattle Bridge and WS Housing Density-rant

[ToddinWestwood]

This week I have had the unfoutunate task of going odwntown for Jury Duty. not that the Jury duty is bad, just gettig downtown.

I rode my motorcycle a couple days but still, getting over the W.S. Bridge is a nightmare at 7:30-8am. The bus lane has now become the 99 merge lane or a passing lane to the point where busses were getting back in the left 2 lanes to get by.

There is 3 ways out of W.S., the big bridge, the lower bridge and Roxbury to the first ave bridge.

How can we even think about losing the viaduct or building thousands of more residences in W.S. without curing our transportation woes first?

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[swimcat]

I had jury duty for 7 days last June and took the 21 express downtown (I live near 35th so it was super convenient). It was a breeze getting downtown, much better than my driving commute to Fremont for work.

7:30 to 8 am is the worst time to leave WS; that’s just the way it is unfortunately, and it’s only going to get worse when viaduct construction begins. Though with the $4.00/gallon gas, it seems like traffic is a bit lighter. I know I’d be riding my bike if I wasn’t pregnant.

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[flowerpetal]

Its all relative I guess. I take the 21 Express downtown at that time too. I don’t find it a nightmare at all. There’s bus buddies to talk to; and newspapers to read; and books to catch up on. If I need a change of venue I take a shuttle down to the water taxi.

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[Anonymous]

I hear ya Todd .. I get involved but it’s like taking one step forward and two steps back. I take some comfort in the fact that when I rant now, at least I get some support vs years ago when I’d just get beat down.

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[walfredo]

Todd,

I leave at 7:05 from Beach Drive, and get to the bridge about 7:15, and mosts days 4 out of 5, there is very little traffic…

I know its not fun to get up early, but if you hit the bridge at its peak traffic time, there is going to be traffic.

And yes, it will only get worse if they take away the viaduct for a period of time, and as they continue to add more residence to West Seattle…

For the moment, I would point out, that things really aren’t that bad 97% of the day on the bridge, and during peak commuter hours it does back up, but its very predictable at least for now.

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[JimmyG]

I leave WS anytime between 0600 and 0715 and the bridge is normally at speed. The few days (maybe 4X/year) that I leave later it’s a nightmare.

Thank the stars and pagans and any other powers that be that I work south of Seattle and don’t have to take the bridge. My employer was seriously talking about moving our offices to downtown Seattle in 2 years. Luckily they decided against it.

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[Kayleigh]

It seems to me “urban density” and “one-car-one-driver commute” are in conflict. There is no “there” there.

Time to think out of the box.

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[Bonnie]

The bridge is a nightmare. Too bad more people didn’t/couldn’t take the bus. (I say couldn’t because some people just can’t take the bus for whatever reasons)

I think with gas prices getting so high more people will be bussing it though. of course, that will cause even more problems because the buses are so jammed packed and so many people have to stand up when it’s busy.

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[ToddinWestwood]

I rode my motorcycle two days because I was not sure when I would get out of court. Today I had to drive, because I had to drop off my daughter at pre-school before, and had no time to catch a bus.

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[Shibaguyz]

If you want to take the back way around to Downtown, we take Roxbury to the 1st Ave Bridge. From there we either take Michigan street to 4th or 6th into downtown. OR… go over the 1st Ave Bridge and actually take 1st into downtown.

During heavy WS Bridge times, these have saved us a LITTLE time off the drive… but hey… traffic is traffic and people are NOT going to stop moving to West Seattle. That’s why we’ve been playing with different routes.

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