Followup: More information on East Marginal/Spokane closure

| Transportation | West Seattle news

As promised, here are more details on the upcoming closure at East Marginal Way/Spokane, as part of the Port of Seattle’s ongoing overpass construction (the project you see on the southeast side of the West Seattle Bridge as you head east), mentioned briefly in our coverage of Wednesday’s Viaduct South Portal Working Group meeting. First, a map:

Per this Port of Seattle news release, the intersection of East Marginal and Spokane will close tomorrow night at 7 pm and stay closed through next Thursday (June 9th):

During this short-term closure, the port will route traffic through the area with the assistance of flaggers and uniformed police. During this period, there will also be intermittent nighttime closures of eastbound lower Spokane between the East Duwamish Waterway and East Marginal Way.

The port scheduled this closure to begin on a Friday night so that staff members can monitor traffic closely and make any necessary adjustments prior to truck traffic increasing again on Monday.

The official name of the $49 million port project, building a flyover to separate vehicle and train traffic, is the East Marginal Way Grade Separation (explained in detail here). Note that this closure is scheduled to end the day before the next Alaskan Way Viaduct shutdown, which is set for 11 pm June 10th through 5 am June 13th. And also note that the news release mentions another closure further north on East Marginal, set to start later this month, related to a separate city project, but not till there’s a “bypass” in place.

AJK June 2, 2011 (3:17 pm)

I’m confused. The map makes it look like you can access westbound Spokane St from southbound East Marginal Way. This is a pretty convenient access point into West Seattle from downtown so I hope it’ll be open. Any word on that? Also, what do they mean by “the port will route traffic through the area with the assistance of flaggers and uniformed police?” I thought it was a closure.

NCG June 2, 2011 (4:17 pm)

Will there be safe passage for bicycle commuters through the area? Signage and routing has been rather confusing recently. How do you suggest we transit this section?

Dawson June 2, 2011 (8:45 pm)

NCG if you’re headin into downtown follow the bike path. If you’re not, the better route will be to dodge toward the duwamish marina and follow the road to east marginal then head north to Spokane St and continue east. Conversely you might be better served by heading south on west marginal to the 1st south bridge and then working back east and north as needed. 1st south kind of dumps you into no mans land though(thanks sdot and your ill placed bike route
signs)

Mc June 2, 2011 (10:29 pm)

Perhaps I don’t know the history of WSea Bridge/SR 99 interchange/E Marginal Way area …but the whole thing appears to be one half-a## design. For example, why is there no ramp from the WSea Bridge to SR 99 south? What’s with the tangle of ramps and overpasses at the end of I-90 near the stadiums? It seems like the folks at SDOT/WSDOT and the Port of Seattle each have their own agenda, and just design and construct road projects without any foresight or communication between the two.
I don’t get – road design, and ultimately traffic management, in this part of the country is extremely un-intelligent and inefficient.

Mrs L June 2, 2011 (10:33 pm)

Am I reading the directional arrows correctly? If you’re heading northbound on E Marginal Way S, you have to go north a bit under the viaduct before you can turn left to get on southbound E Marginal Way S so you can get to the lower bridge. I think I’ll be heading south over the 1st Ave bridge and up through Highland Park next week.

Al June 3, 2011 (7:40 am)

NGC As Dawson stated, stick to the bike route if you are going to/from downtown. SDOT has been preparing for this it looks like as there’s been some signage and “hazard” marking updates in the past week along part of the route. Looks like there’s only one bike route along the west side of the street rather than a bike lane on each side due to the narrow passage. This should be ok, especially since it’s not a change made in the dead of winter.

skeeter June 3, 2011 (8:50 am)

As a commuter from W. Seattle to this area, I sometimes get the feeling that eventually the only way to get from W. Seattle to SODO will be by private boat or swimming.

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