Results tagged “wsdot”

Accompanied by music we swear we've heard in an acupuncturist's lobby, these depict the new bridge options as efficient, utopian dream.

We hate to be the bearers of Monday's bad tidings. That's more Garfield's territory. But this is a something you ought to see.

It matters a good deal what question the poll asked, of course, but if the Seattlepi.com knows, they ain't tellin'...ah, here we go: "Currently, there is a plan to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a tunnel. Do you support? Or oppose? That plan?"

We mentioned a few days ago that WSDOT is doing construction on southbound I-5 this weekend, and that a lane will be closed from Yale to Union Street from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday. But we want to warn you that northbound traffic won't be all giggles and schadenfreude--they're keeping the express lanes open southbound all day to help with the lane closure, so northbound is gonna be molasses in January, too. Plus, Seahawks fans, getting near Qwest Field is just part of the fun: "WSDOT is building a bridge over the railroad tracks on S. Royal Brougham Way and a new off-ramp from I-90 and I-5 to S. Atlantic Street/Edgar Martinez Drive S. Construction is also under way on nearby city of Seattle projects and on WSDOT’s Alaskan Way Viaduct Electrical Line Relocation project. Fans should expect construction-related lane, parking and pedestrian access restrictions related to these projects south of Qwest Field."

WSDOT tells us that from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. this Saturday, they're closing the onramp from Yale Avenue to southbound I-5 and one lane of southbound I-5 between Yale and Union Street.

WSDOT has decided to put their twenty-two ski cabins located in the Mount Baker ski area on the auction block. Turns out that WSDOT originally picked up 3.4 acres of property, home of Glacier Creek Lodge and all of its twenty-two cabins, as part of the Gallup Creek bridge replacement project.

Hey-oh! So westbound I-90 closure began yesterday on the floating bridge and it'll remain two lanes until July 20, which WSDOT is quick to point out is a whole week ahead of schedule. Drivers are being funneled into the express lanes for the duration of the project, which is to replace the expansion joints.

With all the audits going on around town, it's no surprise to hear the next taxpayer rip-off comes courtesy of the Washington State Department of Transportation. A routine payroll review of overtime accrual reports uncovered a WSDOT employee jerry-rigging the payroll system for the past two years, allowing her to snag at least $67,000 in unearned overtime and compensation time. Currently, the case is undergoing an audit and investigation for potential criminal charges. In the meantime, WSDOT has decided to update their system, so that no one can adjust their own payroll records in the future. Smart move.

The SR 520 reopened to traffic this morning, after a weekend closure for transportation crews and the floating bridge's annual inspection. Visitors saw firsthand the impact of 120,000 daily vehicles after peering into the big, hollow concrete pontoons that are holding up the aging bridge. While crews patched 520's cracks, the question continues to loom over the bridge's longevity, especially in the event of an earthquake. If anything, this inspection solidified the need for the new bridge, which is expected to open in 2014--although it will come at the cost of pricy tolls on the 520, expected to begin next fall.

Think twice about your weekend road-tripping plan of attack, especially if your map requires you to take either SR 520 or I-90 bridges. The 520 floating bridge will be undergoing its annual bridge inspection this weekend so tonight, WSDOT crews will close down 520 from Montlake Boulevard E. to 92nd Avenue NE at 11 p.m. It is set to re-open on Monday, June 22 at 5 a.m. Now here's the clincher: come Sunday morning, the I-90 express lanes will also be closed from 6:30-9:30 a.m. (Oh, noes!) for the cyclists riding in the LIVESTRONG Challenge. Good luck with any rerouting so you can see dear ol' Dad. And if that's not enough, expect traffic congestion from Mariners games, the All Nations Cup Parade, and the Fremont Summer Solstice Parade Festival and Street Fair.

Last night the first cars drove across the reopened SR 104 Hood Canal Bridge earlier than expected. Nowadays it's nearly unheard of, a construction project that finishes eight days ahead of schedule. Eight days, ahead of schedule! The hot mess of traffic jams and delays caused by the closure should start to thin out soon, making the morning commute tolerable.

A giant boulder merrily rolled down the hillside just before 2 a.m., landing in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 90 at Snoqualmie Pass and hitting a passing semi-truck. Eeek! The injured driver was taken to Harborview. Officials have reopened the roadway since the boulder had its excellent adventure this morning. Now drivers heading towards the Pass just need to be prepared for snowy, slushy crap weather. Remember, defensive driving.

• Feel the need for speed venting your frustrations with 520? Well, come one, come all tonight (Seattle Public Library, Univ. Branch, 5-7 p.m.). WSDOT wants feedback on congestion, tolls, and whatever your little motorist heart wants to bitch about.
• Bank robbing, the newest hobby in (West) Seattle.
• Seattle Met's chat with the city's band of booze-makin' brothers (and sista).

The seattlepi's real estate reporter, Aubrey Cohen, just spotted a bridge floating across Elliott Bay. Turns out it's pieces of the new Hood Canal Bridge (to be finished in 2010), "pontoons U, V, W and X," according to WSDOT. (We're kidding about Aubrey wanting to sell it. That's a little real estate humor, vital in these dark times.) WSDOT has been photographing the Hood Canal bridge project for Flickr, if you want to see more.

How convenient! The Washington State Department of Transportation now has a map where you can see exactly where our federal stimulus money will be improving the state's highways and byways. The projects are concentrated, as expected, along I-5 and I-90, with a spattering up by Spokane and a few down towards Yakima. Here's the Washington Jobs Now project list; so far, five of the stimulus projects are at "Gone To Ad" status, whatever that means.

The bored tunnel option just got a big wet kiss from the Senate, though its House reception will not be so warm. Still, the clock's ticking and WSDOT, King County, and the City of Seattle are inviting you on a free short walking tour of the viaduct on Saturday, March 21, while the structure is closed to traffic for an inspection.

The slurry hits the fan tonight on southbound I-5 under the Convention Center, we're told by WSDOT Twitter. Lanes are being closed while the broken, cracked, 40-year-old concrete is being fixed. WSDOT, break it down:
• Contractor crews will begin closing the southbound lanes of I-5 at Stewart Street at 8 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 13. Three out of five lanes will be closed by 11 p.m.
• The Union Street off-ramp and Howell Street on-ramp will also be closed. Detour signs are in place. You can find detour maps here.
• The I-5 express lanes will remain open in the southbound direction all weekend so drivers can get to downtown Seattle. We want to remind drivers that the Pike/Pine and 5th/Columbia exits are HOV only. Mercer Street, Stewart Street and through traffic is for all drivers.

We first noticed it a few weeks ago and assumed that maybe all the gravel they threw down on the road was obscuring the lines, but this weekend we again made a rare trip up to Fremont on Highway 99 across the Aurora Bridge and, no joke, the line separating the right-most lane from the center lane appears to be gone. The painted lines have disappeared, and all that remains of the reflectors are gouges in the asphalt, both north- and south-bound.

WSDOT has announced they will be re-opening I-5 this afternoon after flooding and debris forced the state to close the highway by Chehalis on Wednesday. The road crews are hard at work making sure the stretch is safe, and will be letting trucks and then regular traffic through at some point later today. That's great news for commerce in general, commuters, and all the weekend shows who were looking at cancellation. Won't it be nice when spring is here and the weather stops wreaking havoc on our city?

• The winds, they are coming! West Seattle Blog has our area's official wind advisory re-published on their site, and the advisory includes a mention of possible local power outages.Time to charge up your computer batteries and boil a few eggs to last you for the duration.
• Pedestrians and cyclists, remember to wear bright-colored clothing or reflective gear when you're trekking through the dark and rainy city. And drivers, you're in charge of heavy machines barreling at potentially dangerous speeds, so watch where you're going. A woman was hit by a car last night at 23rd & Cherry and a cyclist was the victim of a hit-and-run by someone driving a blue Olds Cutlass or Chevy, reports Central District News.
• The Sable Verity goes into detail in her analysis of the final school closure list released yesterday. While she's upset about some of the closures, there's no love lost on the African American Academy: "I say tread lightly and don't wear yourself out for a lost cause."

We got into work a little early today with the intention of leaving early as well. We remember all too clearly the three-hour drive home we endured last year because of the deadly white stuff. If KOMO News is correct, then we should be seeing snow fall throughout the day here, with the brunt of the attack coming this afternoon, causing hundreds of Seattle area drivers to throw up their hands and senselessly abandon their vehicles on the side of the road. And how is WSDOT preparing? By stocking their massive fleet (ha!) of plows with de-icer and salt/sand mix and by asking us to please not drive like a buncha jagoffs.

After the brunt of the winter passes us by, WSDOT informs us that we can look forward to nine months of construction and road repair on all the major highways. Yippee! It's an urban rite of spring to sit in traffic. We wish they hadn't dropped this particular bomb on us just yet, when we're still enjoying how our tires skate on the icy Seattlest HQ parking lot, but at least it won't come as a surprise in February. Not that road construction in Seattle is ever really that much of a surprise.

When we wrote about the proposed "suicide prevention fence" for the Aurora Bridge back in July, several of you had a lot to say about it. If you still feel as strongly about the proposed multi-million dollar jumper barrier, head down to Seattle Pacific University's Otto Miller Hall tonight and attend a public meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. to discuss the fence.

Seattle pedestrians and bikers are fed up with it too. Over 70 Seattle sidewalks are closed due to private construction. A recently completed audit on sidewalk closures and pedestrian access concluded that the city wasn't doing enough to help pedestrians navigate the ever-changing sidewalk closures. In hopes of changing that, the audit proposes that construction projects be coordinated to avoid conflicting closures and that the city begin enforcing rules about pedestrian violations of sidewalk closures. Since the rising cost of gas makes walking more of a necessity for some of us than a leisure activity, we hope the sidewalk situation gets sorted out soon.

The state is trying to figure out just how much you'd be willing to pay to cross the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge without being deterred by the cost to change your route. According to a study released yesterday, most drivers would continue to use the bridge, even in the face of fees up to $6.85 per roundtrip. Apparently, the state believes if you have a job on the Eastside, adding nearly $40 to your weekly commute—plus the ever-increasing cost of gas—is no big deal financially. The proposed tolls would vary throughout the day based on traffic volume—from $2.15 during lighter times to a $3.80 one-way fee during peak hours. Tolls on 520 could begin as early as 2010. Similar tolls are also being discussed for I-90, Seattle's other floating bridge. The tolls would go to funding a new six-lane replacement bridge for 520.

What was that WSDOT? You stopped the sinking of the viaduct with your latest repairs? That is what you reported yesterday, right? And, we kinda called your bullshit—only to feel completely validated this morning by this headline: "Viaduct Sinks a Little Bit More."

Then again, isn't that what they always say? The Washington State Department of Transportation claims that the most recent repairs have stopped the so-called settling of the viaduct. (They call it settling because it sounds much nicer and considerably less alarming than "sinking.")

Usually, when traffic is dawdling on I-5 at 30 m.p.h., we're longing for the arterial: same speed, fewer Seattle drivers. But starting next year, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) may be intentionally slowing down drivers on I-5 in hopes that it will ease traffic.