West Seattle, Washington
10 Tuesday
Again this morning, here are 6 live cameras (refresh this page any time for the latest images and info), and commute updates below them:
(l to r below: latest from cams over WS Bridge midspan looking east, WS Br. I-5 ramps, I-5 @ Spokane Street in whichever direction WSDOT chooses to point it)
(l to r below: latest from cams looking east @ Low Bridge approach, Alaskan Way @ Washington, 99 @ 1st Avenue S bridge)
6:04 AM: WSDOT says the work is one-fourth done. And it’s sharing good news for people who travel through Renton: the Rainier Avenue South work there is finished, two days ahead of schedule. As for the freeways — ground and chopper shots show smooth sailing again in the early going.
6:11 AM: Uh-oh, more cars in the construction zone, according to the I-5/Holgate cam.
6:18 AM: South of there, the I-5/Spokane cam looks more jammed too, though chopper crews are describing it as “three extra minutes,” so no panic yet.
6:26 AM: Viaduct still in good shape. WSDOT says the construction zone is now backed up “about a mile” and notes that some drivers are “confused about the traffic split between the right lane and the other two through lanes. Drivers can use the right lane to stay on northbound I-5.”
6:34 AM: Drivers on our side appear to be heeding the “don’t go back to your old ways yet” pleas. Bridge moving well. So is the ramp to NB 5.
6:41 AM: DOT says traffic is moving 20 mph on NB 5 from Albro through the construction zone. The ramp to 5 from WS Bridge still good. 99 @ the 1st S bridge is described as “a little heavier than normal.”
6:46 AM: Weird that the Times has a commute blog but no updates (as of this moment) since 6:57 last night. OK, snark aside, here’s our favorite bridge shot. The left side shows folks coming out of WS. Nice for this hour.
6:54 AM: The Viaduct exit on The Bridge is now starting to look normal (aka jammed) for this time of day.
7:01 AM: Bus riders, did you know there’s an online tool to track if your bus is on time? As for the roads, Viaduct exit still backed up, things looking decent heading past there toward I-5. First report from the Water Taxi dock: Running a few minutes behind schedule – 6:50 am run left a few minutes late.
7:06 AM: Cams are watching 1st Avenue S too – so far so good. I-5 “through the construction zone” is still not bumper-to-bumper; Viaduct offramp from The Bridge looking a little better now.
7:14 AM: Still no major snarling. Southbound traffic on 1st at Marginal is a little busy; this cam also looks toward the 1st Ave S bridge. Over I-5, latest chopper reports still indicate traffic is near the speed limit. Room to breathe on the bridge at last look.
7:28 AM: Big lines for Water Taxi ‘s 7:30 run. It will be a few minutes late; the boat isn’t there yet.
7:39 AM: The bridge and other routes still in good shape.
7:54 AM: WSB Road Crew just back from checking out the 7:30 water taxi run firsthand. Photos to follow. It was going to leave at least 10 minutes behind schedule; didn’t pull in till 7:36. Meantime, no road trouble on the key routes. For our fellow south West Seattleites, Fauntleroy heading from Morgan Junction all the way to the bridge looked like a holiday or weekend when we traveled it a few minutes ago.
8:01 AM: Chopper reporters say the Viaduct (which is largely a camera-free zone) is slowing a little. Cams show the Bridge still “wide open.” Here are those Water Taxi pix; first, the boat arriving at 7:36 as mentioned above; second, the line on the dock, from quite a distance — we couldn’t park any closer than the far side of Salty’s, so this is thanks to our modest zoom. There were dozens up along the boathouse too; will be interesting to hear later how today’s numbers went.
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8:12 AM: WSB road crew is heading out to see the bridge/viaduct firsthand. Does sound like (dare we say) Commutastrophe (we also like “Carpocalypse”) has been averted for a second day.
8:44 AM: WSB road crew reports seven minutes from the Fauntleroy end of The Bridge to the Battery Street Tunnel end of The Viaduct.
… the city just issued an interesting open invitation to anyone and everyone. Road closure included! Click ahead to read it.Read More
Another WT update forwarded by County Councilmember Dow C: He says the folks at Argosy came up with a “mobile farebox” to speed up fare collection, which is the part of the process that bogged down a bit this morning (with several hundred more passengers than usual). They will use the “mobile farebox” to collect fares before people even get aboard the WT; if you took the Water Taxi back to WS this evening, you may have already seen it in action.
Back for an encore, our selection of six live cams (refresh this page any time for the latest images and info) before the latest info looking toward tomorrow:
(l to r below: latest from cams over WS Bridge midspan looking east, WS Br. I-5 ramps, I-5 @ Spokane Street in whichever direction WSDOT chooses to point it)
(l to r below: latest from cams looking east @ Low Bridge approach, Alaskan Way @ Washington, 99 @ 1st Avenue S bridge)
WSDOT says “thanks, but don’t go back to your old ways tomorrow” … and it’s also keeping a wary eye on tonight’s Mariners-game-added commute. In fact, from its continuously updated I-5 page right now (5 pm):
While traffic is moving well through the construction zone on northbound I-5, an accident on southbound I-5 is blocking the right lane at the end of the on-ramp from the west Seattle Bridge. Traffic has backed up about a mile.
Photo from the office of KC Councilmember Dow Constantine (who tells WSB he too is telecommuting today, in case you wondered). This is the run that carried almost 200 people.
Official morning numbers just in, courtesy of West Seattle’s own King County Councilmember Dow Constantine, below this lovely view of the added 6:10 am run:
First water-taxi run (6:10 am), 68 passengers; second, 135; third, 191; fourth, 128; fifth, 65. As we noted in our updates below, the increased volume caused the WT to fall behind schedule; Dow C says Metro told him, “We will be working with Argosy to determine any ways we can speed up this process without jeopardizing safety.”
Scroll below these six live cams (refresh this page any time for the latest images and info) for our updates from the morning commute on what did, and didn’t, happen out there:
(l to r below: latest from cams over WS Bridge midspan looking east, WS Br. I-5 ramps, I-5 @ Spokane Street in whichever direction WSDOT chooses to point it)
(l to r below: latest from cams looking east @ Low Bridge approach, south on Alaskan Way @ Washington, 99 @ 1st Avenue S bridge)
Before the commute updates, remember: The low bridge won’t open for boats; the Water Taxi has changes; you can turn left to 4th Ave S from surface Spokane St.
5:40 AM: State update page confirms bridge ramp to NB 5 is open again. WSB-mobile heading out. One of us is checking out the main routes and alternatives and will phone/text/send pix back to HQ for the other to add here.
6:10 AM: First Water Taxi run has 50 passengers. Announcement heard – no chairs upstairs because of some sort of problem. One television camera crew and KIRO radio at dock.
6:30: Admiral to I-90 took nine minutes. Sky more crowded than road – two choppers, two planes over I-5. (Below is the view right after turning onto NB 5 from WS Bridge.)
7 AM: We’re changing places. Team member just back from the road reports First Avenue South looking good past the stadiums, the bridge looked great heading east as we headed back west. Beware — some of the “I-5 ramp closed” detour signs are still up in places on the WS side — that is NOT true; the ramp to NB I-5 is open and we saw it with our own eyes. If you drive that stretch, be careful not to get distracted by what’s happening with the construction on the right side of the road — interesting welding, etc., but keep your eyes on the car in front of you!
7:07 AM: As our road crew heads toward the bridge for the next firsthand report, radio traffic reporter says the Viaduct is starting to bunch up. Meantime, another note for people taking I-5 to 90 — the right lanes of 5 are blocked till right before the ramp — no time to see it and merge over, so make sure you stay on the right side from the moment you get onto 5, if that’s where you’re headed.
7:19 AM: First report from road crew since switchover: Everything still looking good. Taco Time on 35th to 1st Avenue South off The Bridge — four minutes. Delridge onramp starting to get busy but not bad. 35th moving well. Large contingent of traffic officers spotted at the bottom of the 1st Avenue South offramp.
7:27 AM: Coming back the other way, eastbound bridge still looking good, 35th “almost deserted.” Radio traffic reports say the Eastside are where things are fairly ugly — a lot of people taking 405 to avoid 5, apparently. If you commute that way, beware.
7:33 AM: Radio traffic reporter says she’s going 45 mph — posted limit — past the construction zone on NB 5 between WS Bridge and I-90, all’s well. She also echoes what we noticed last hour, the work itself is a sight to see. WSDOT update page says things are starting to slow at 509/99.
7:41 AM: This WS-based LJer who left for work “at the crack of dawn” writes what many are thinking … OK, today’s OK so far because we all had the living daylights scared out of us; tomorrow (and beyond) could be a different story.
7:54 AM: Just drove The Bridge from 35th to 1st S again. Still just four minutes, moving at the speed limit. Now our road crew is back on the WS side and reporting that parking is a challenge in the water-taxi vicinity — even up to the diagonal spots at the viewpoint several blocks west. So if you want to take the WT, don’t bring your car — catch a shuttle.
8:06 AM: The Water Taxi is definitely the story of the morning. Radio reporter says the last run set a record — 191 passengers (you’ll recall WT was recently recertified to carry up to 250). Just got a photo of the line, which is now stretching toward the street …
8:25 AM: Checked out The (high) Bridge yet again. Our road crew reports “still NOBODY out here.” Times blog has a dispatch from someone who bicycled in from WS. WSB-mobile now on the way to check out the low bridge.
8:31 AM: Radio says the Water Taxi’s sudden success has pushed it a bit behind schedule; the WT run that was supposed to leave at 8:10 am “didn’t even get to the dock till 8:25.” We’ll check later with King County folks to see if any changes are planned for tomorrow.
8:38 AM: Low bridge and WT dock both quiet — looks like the morning rush is over. WSDOT folks are frantically warning, don’t let this fool you into going back to your regular habits tomorrow, this only worked BECAUSE so many people changed their ways.
8:45 AM: WSDOT also reminds us, there’s a Mariners’ game tonight at Safeco. Even without the benefit of I-5 construction, that usually means trouble driving home to WS in the early evening, so everyone beware. We’re wrapping up this round of posting but keep adding your observations; we’ll be up early to track things tomorrow too, and of course we’ll get back to the rest of the WS news for today …
Went to Belvedere Viewpoint to see how the Admiral paving turned out, among other things. The whole stretch that was closed for nighttime work toward the end of last week (Admiral between Olga and 41st) looks good; here’s a small section shining during a sunbreak:
Looking out toward downtown from the same viewpoint, we enjoyed a great view of everybody out fishing on Elliott Bay:
(l to r: latest from cams over WS Bridge midspan looking east, WS Bridge I-5 ramps, I-5 @ Spokane Street in whichever direction WSDOT chooses to point it)
The WSDOT update page says some of the work is going faster than expected, but they’re still keeping a watchful eye out for showers this afternoon. Not surprisingly, traffic volumes are down; the advance alerts to HIDE UNDER YOUR BED TILL IT’S OVER!!!! worked this weekend — but what about tomorrow, when many of us don’t have the luxury of staying home or even telecommuting? Starting just after 6 am tomorrow, we will have one team member out in the WSB-mobile, checking out the commute (and alternatives), while another one mans the keyboard here at WSB World HQ, so that we can post “real-time updates” (including pix) in addition to showing an expanded selection of live cams. Yes, we know, counting us, there will be so many “news” vehicles out “checking the commute” it’ll be worse than it would have been otherwise. Forgive us. Speaking of media, we got this photo of channel 7 interviewing someone at the WS Kiwanis booth at the Farmers’ Market today. P’raps another “how is West Seattle surviving in this time of transportation crisis” story? (7 PM PS: Our guess was close … it was one quick comment at the end of the “everything’s OK today but ARE WE PREPARED FOR TOMORROW?” story at the start of the 5 pm news.)
A few hours after Rhonda @ Beach Drive Blog posted an update/rant about the sharrows, we drove BD to check the progress ourselves.
The northbound lanes appear complete; the southbound lanes are done through the 5500 block of Beach Drive, some sharrows so fresh that orange cones framed them as of this afternoon (narrowing the lanes a bit precariously for a then-sunny weekend day). Lincoln Park Way does not appear to have been tackled yet. So how are they working (or not) for bicycle riders? Bike Hugger posted about his first try.
… don’t panic.
Those three images, by the way, are the latest images (as of when you arrived on this page) from the (left to right) city traffic cam for the WS Bridge, looking east from midspan; the city traffic cam pointing east at the I-5 ramps from high over 6th/Spokane; and the state traffic cam (direction varies) at I-5/Spokane. (Refresh this page for the newest images.) Meantime, we just took our first eastbound journey since this began 17 hours ago. No awfulness. We took the Costco loop – down Fauntleroy to The Bridge, off at 1st South & up to 4th, to Costco, then back up over the 1st Ave S Bridge to 509 to Myers and up through the north edge of White Center, to our south side of WS ‘hood. Of course we took pix.
Left to right below – looking east down the bridge after the post-Fauntleroy bend; looking east down the bridge after the high hump; top of the 1st Ave S ramp:
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Left to right below — sign on the south edge of the bottom of the 1st Ave S ramp; looking east down Spokane (surface) toward 4th; our only traffic hangup, a train (if you get off at 1st S hoping to use the new 4th S left-turn signal, remember you run the risk of train delay):
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WSDOT’s latest update on how the I-5 work is going (don’t forget the WS Bridge ramp to northbound 5 is completely closed all weekend) is here.
10 pm Friday night. The moment we’ve all been waiting for (or dreading). Here’s what you need to know right now:
-No access to I-5 Northbound from West Seattle Freeway or surface Spokane Street, all weekend.
-If you get to I-5 some other way, three NB lanes are closed in the construction zone (between West Seattle Freeway and I-90), including the ramp to I-90 and Dearborn.
-Some bus routes are affected (more here).
-Water Taxi capacity is increased (schedule here).
-The Washington State Department of Transportation’s complete project update page is here. (If you want to talk to a real live person, they’ve got a hotline 18 hours a day at 206-440-4704.)
-Our live cameras page is here (with additions to come over the weekend as we see where other cameras are pointing and what they are showing; also note the city has added a new Alaskan Way/Washington cam).
-Don’t forget, tonight is the second and (scheduled to be) final night of Admiral Way paving, with Admiral closed till 6 am tomorrow between Olga and 41st.
Let us know how all this winds up affecting you, once you’ve been out in it tonight, tomorrow, throughout the weekend — leave comments on our I-5 posts, or send us e-mail. Good luck to us all!
Morning commuters won’t be dealing with it till Monday, but the weekend effects will be major — starting at 10 pm, the West Seattle Bridge exit to NB I-5 will close completely for the whole weekend. If your destination off I-5 is the U-District or somewhere further north, try this alternate route: Take The Viaduct; just past the Battery Street Tunnel, follow the Mercer Street/I-5 exit, which is a relatively straight shot (less than a mile) over to the interstate onramps. Meantime, these links should be handy: WSDOT’s “everything you need to know NOW about the closures” page is here; our live WS cams page including The Bridge is here.
You may have read or heard something about a temporary traffic signal going in on the elevated portion of Spokane Street, better known as the last EB stretch of the West Seattle Bridge, formerly the West Seattle Freeway. We have doublechecked with WSDOT, which is working on traffic mitigation with SDOT, and they confirm for us that this is not so — quoting Erin Bogenschutz of WSDOT:
They are not removing any of the concrete barrier to allow eastbound vehicles on the elevated portion of Spokane Street to turn left to 4th Ave.
The City will install a new left turn signal for eastbound traffic on the ground-level of Spokane Street to turn left to 4th Ave. Currently, the signal prohibits left-turns. The new signal should be installed this afternoon.
The newest numbers, courtesy of the office of West Seattle’s County Councilmember Dow Constantine, show quite the ridership boom for the Elliott Bay Water Taxi this year: July had 36,885 passengers, up 20% from last year; total ridership for this entire Water Taxi season was at 88,336 as of the start of this month, a 27% increase from the same period in ’06. From here on out, comparisons will be more complicated, since as we first told you last month, the WT’s capacity got a big boost in time for Freeway Fright ’07. All the same, this bodes well for efforts to make it year-round and get it a new home.
The latest on the major road projects that are rolling our way like a semi-truck with burned-out brakes:
FREEWAY FRIGHT ’07, aka the I-5 northbound lane closures: We know it’s going to be crunchy but gosh, the handwringing we’ve heard on tv lately … you would think our peninsula is going to be scooped up and flung into the middle of the Pacific, with all this hue and cry over People In West Seattle Won’t Be Able To Go Anywhere. Oh well, maybe it means a few more square feet of sand on Alki for the locals if the weather ever gets nice again. Back to the traffic: WSDOT has launched this very handy new page with specifics about What Exactly Is Happening Right This Minute, schedule changes if any, relevant cameras, and current traffic troubles. We’ll have it linked prominently here on our site every morning along with specifics on what us WSers need to know before heading out (more on that tomorrow).
ADMIRAL AGONY ’07, as in, the paving that will close Admiral Way for two nights between Olga and 41st starting tomorrow night, 7 pm-6 am. This city press release has the bare-bones basics about detours and so forth; the city e-mail update we posted back on Monday has even more information, including the warning for neighbors about possible vibrations from construction equipment.
The new holder of the “lowest posted price for regular gas in West Seattle” title is … Shell @ Fauntleroy & Alaska (photo right). It’s been in a price war of sorts with the kitty-corner 76 for a few weeks — one would drop a couple cents, the other would match or edge lower — but suddenly sometime since this morning, the Shell slashed its prices and now sells regular for $2.69. That’s six cents cheaper than the station that had been the low-price titleholder for a while, Arco on Delridge, which is at $2.75.
As the I-5 closures roll ever-closer, the very nice folks in communications @ WSDOT are working overtime to be sure even small news “organizations” like WSB are supplied with every last little bit of info. Among today’s bits: This helpful link including the specifics on exactly which lanes are scheduled to be closed when. That includes a complete lack of access to NB I-5 from the east end of The Bridge this weekend — so don’t even try.
We are working on a list of who’s got wi-fi access around WS, besides the obvious (coffeehouses), for anyone who really can take the advice of West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician and telecommute to avoid the I-5-related trauma expected during FF ’07. The latest addition, if you weren’t aware: Public library branches. West Seattle has four of ’em: Southwest, High Point, Delridge, and of course, WS (north of Metro Market).
According to this afternoon’s e-mail update from the city Transportation Department, the paving closures on Admiral aren’t scheduled to start till Thursday night. Click ahead for the full text of that e-mail update (including a warning for neighbors about possible side effects inside their homes):Read More
We’ve been warned: Friday night is the start of the three-week project that will close much of northbound I-5, off and on, round the clock, right where West Seattle drivers roll onto 5, between Spokane Street and I-90. A few more planning tidbits today:
-Remember the suggestion from West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician, to work from home or hang out someplace with wi-fi? Coffeehouses aren’t the only places you can get online; for example, Matthew @ Skylark Cafe wants everyone in WSB-land to know Skylark (north end of Delridge, just south of The Bridge) has wi-fi and welcomes telecommuters – open at 11:30 am Tuesdays-Fridays, 9 am Saturdays & Sundays. He adds, “We have air conditioning and happy hour all day til 7pm … we are also family-friendly until 9 pm when we become 21+.”
-Another e-mail suggested we remind everyone that some bus routes will change during the construction too.
Noteworthy tidbit in this P-I article about inspectors checking area bridges after the Minneapolis collapse: The Admiral Way bridge is one of five in the city with special electronic detectors that monitor it for signs of trouble. (Side note for historic-photo geeks like us, the city archives have lots of shots of its 1949-50 construction, such as this and this.)
This just arrived in our inbox from a WSB reader:
I wanted to note a scary incident on the 21 Express to West Seattle Friday evening.
A female rider became verbally abusive on the bus when she realized the bus was making the right turn onto the Columbia on-ramp to Highway 99. I’ve dubbed her the ‘scary bus female’ (SBF) because she definitely was not a lady. The bus had already started on the on-ramp so could not let her off. She insisted to the driver that she had been let off before. As the bus progressed, she returned to her seat loudly expressing her displeasure. She was upset and very vocal about it. The entire ride was unnerving for those who sat in the back with her.
Midway on 99, she made the ride much worse making threats to kill a woman and her grandson. Fellow riders, including a gentleman beside me, quickly got up to help control the situation. The grandmother and her grandson and other riders moved away from SBF. Several riders stood creating a human fence to block SBF from the rest of us. F or the rest of the trip on 99, until the first stop at 35th and Avalon, SBF was corraled until it was time for her to get off. The driver alert Metro base and we last saw SPD arrive at the scene but our bus was not detained per the wish of the grandmother as she wanted all of us to get home. I hope they’re okay as this was a horrible experience.
It was admirable what these people did. It made me only think of what happened several years ago when a Metro bus went off the Aurora bridge. Kudos to these riders. They helped prevent something that could have been worse.
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