Traffic alert: 2-car-rollover crash shuts southbound Viaduct/99

(we’ve added additional info to this story later Wednesday)

ORIGINAL 10:50 PM REPORT: For anyone heading toward West Seattle soon from downtown or points north of there – the Alaskan Way Viaduct is shut down southbound because of a complicated crash that’s being sorted out – reportedly involving two cars, one of which is reported to be upside down on southbound 99 around Holgate, another of which is upside down on railroad tracks. At least three “patients” reported, between the two cars, per scanner traffic.

(Photo by CLIFF DESPEAUX/Seattle Times, used with permission of the Times, added Wednesday afternoon)
11:05 PM UPDATE: Just heard the full rundown via the scanner. 4 people involved in the 2 vehicles, both of which are described as totaled, both having “barrel-rolled” multiple times. The driver of the car that “left the Viaduct” was a 30-year-old man, driver of the car that rolled on 99, a 34-year-old man, and two men in their mid-20s were in the back seat of the car that stayed on 99. The worst of the injuries is described as the driver of the second vehicle possibly having a broken arm. They all got themselves out of the wrecked vehicles and are all going to the hospital.

11:34 PM: Here’s a Twitpic looking at one of the cars, from a distance, parallel with Starbucks HQ, from Seattle Times (WSB citywide-news partner) photographer Cliff DesPeaux. And from seattlepi.com‘s Casey McNerthney, here’s the other car.

11:59 PM: Per the scanner, police expect to keep southbound 99 closed for “several hours” – traffic has to get off at the 1st So. offramp by the stadiums.

12:30 AM: Cliff’s “official” Times photos are now published here. (minutes later) SPDBlotter has just published a summary of the situation.

7:29 AM: 99 southbound reopened a few hours, and SPD has published an update saying the Civic apparently was racing another car – NOT the one it hit. Here’s the update.

2 PM WEDNESDAY: SPD says the 30-year-old driver of the Civic has been booked into King County Jail for investigation of vehicular assault, now that he’s out of the hospital.

cjboffoli February 16, 2010 (11:07 pm)

I just got off the phone with a friend who was just on a West Seattle bound bus and she told me that the wreck happened right in front them. Fortunately, the bus driver reacted quickly, slamming on the brakes but keeping the bus in the clear. They all watched in astonishment as the occupants of the flipped car actually crawled out onto the road and then sat down against the median. She said they looked surprisingly OK despite what had just happened. The bus driver asked everyone on the bus if there was anyone with any kind of medical training. No one came forward but people immediately called 911 and the bus continued on.

WSB February 16, 2010 (11:13 pm)

Yup, that dovetails with all the med info I heard on the scanner. Wow.

Joleen February 16, 2010 (11:13 pm)

I wouldn’t say the cars were on the viaduct. They were on SB 99 where the viaduct lowers down to ground level just at Pier 30 & Sears. The 2nd car rolled off the lower roadway onto the tracks but it didn’t fall off the viaduct.

WSB February 16, 2010 (11:24 pm)

Thanks for the info from witnesses – the scanner very clearly has continued to use the term “viaduct” but it also hasn’t been very clear about precise location. The Viaduct, however, is shut down, as of last report, since it is closed before the crash scene.

Bp February 16, 2010 (11:17 pm)

I’m in this retarded mess now. U hope they live and I hope they never drive again, they clearly are bad at it when crashing on a goddamn hiway with no on or off ramps.

cjboffoli February 16, 2010 (11:26 pm)

The PI is reporting the story as if a car went “flying” off the Viaduct. But at the location of the accident SR-99 is at ground level.

WSB February 16, 2010 (11:30 pm)

As I commented before, that is how the scanner first described it. And they in turn, I’m sure, were going off what dispatchers were told. I don’t know if they have anyone going to the scene but I know that Cliff DesPeaux, photographer for the Seattle Times (WSB citywide-news partner), has been on his way there – tweeted at one point that he was stuck behind a train, while en route!

westwoodmom February 16, 2010 (11:31 pm)

KOMO just added a report that they may have been racing together. Now I am a bit pissed they walked away so easy, if so!

WSB February 17, 2010 (12:02 am)

KING also just raised the racing possibility (their news is on late, midnight, because of the Olympics).

Living in West Seattle Since 1985 February 16, 2010 (11:32 pm)

Wow, stupid to be racing!!!

I. Ponder February 16, 2010 (11:45 pm)

Those photos are shocking. They’re very lucky if they got away without serious injuries.

pigeonmom February 17, 2010 (1:00 am)

Bp, I love you.

samson February 17, 2010 (7:53 am)

Racing!!! SO DUMB to do!! they were not thinking twice! sheez! what’s rush!! what’s up with EGOISM!! Calm down! find something else to win instead of the roads to be used!

Sasquatch February 17, 2010 (8:00 am)

That person who flipped onto the railway tracks is so lucky if they are not injured much. I wonder what kind of car that is that fell on the tracks? It doesn’t look like the roof held up well. Maybe a Mitsubishi? Maybe the car DID absorb a lot of impact if the driver was in decent shape.

Cheryl February 17, 2010 (8:05 am)

The idiot that was racing endangered the lives of who knows how many people, including those in the Mitsubishi he collided with. I really wish the law would come down HARD on them. And frankly, as harsh as it sounds, if he was racing, it’s too bad he didn’t expire altogether. Just eliminate all future possibility that he does it again & kills someone next time. Cars are not thrill machines! What if he’d hit someone with little kids in their car? Makes me sick to think about how this incident could have turned out for the occupants of the other car (assuming they weren’t involved in the race).

kittylove February 17, 2010 (9:32 am)

as a person who occasionally drives southbound on the viaduct late at night, i immediately knew they were racing when i heard about this crash. it is downright frightening at times. people treat that section of road like a racetrack.

soosan February 17, 2010 (12:47 pm)

Weird…I was in a taxi coming back from the airport around 11:30 pm and noticed a bunch of guys with small souped-up cars gathered near the parking lot of the Subway by the corner of West Marginal and Highland Park. Thought to myself, man, I hope they don’t start racing up Marginal. (Also wondered if a person could even call 911 to report “suspected potential racing.” Anyone know?) I had a scary time last summer coming down from Mt. Baker with guys racing past and wished I had called then.

From the Times today it sounds like one of the cars wasn’t racing at all, just a bystander. Hope he’s OK.

JAT February 17, 2010 (6:49 pm)

Of course (no French pun intended) it’s the bystanders who get hurt. Those damn motorists are a menace yet again.

suspend their driving privileges for Life and I’ll lend them a bicycle.

Nate February 17, 2010 (10:48 pm)

That’s a crazy picture! I am reminded of meeting a disabled man a couple years ago whose debilitating injuries were the result of getting run into the barrier by a street racer at the turnoff from 99 to the WS bridge.

gary February 17, 2010 (10:58 pm)

Cheryl – You’re minivan isn’t a thrill machine but my Hemi is!

(required) February 18, 2010 (11:44 pm)

Ah, I know I’ll be chastised for not being PC, but I’m not able to honestly say I hope these guys are OK. But to me, three words sum it all up: “road,” “rage,” and “speeding.” Some may say this incident was merely innocent “racing,” carried out by “youths” who are just doing what we all did once, but I say, it’s either “speeding” or “road rage.” And given how dangerous speeding and road rage truly are, versus how so many people seem immune to realizing how reckless and dangerous that activity truly is, especially with today’s dangerously powerful vehicles, I could honestly care less if these perpetrators died. Honestly, my only concern is that I hope they didn’t hurt or kill anyone else beside themselves — and I also hope that the state charges them (and collects) for the cleanup and repair of any damage to public property that they caused. Sorry to those out there offended by this opinion, but I am not alone, I bet, and I mean no offense.

Sorry, comment time is over.