The Nickerson/15th Ave W ramp to southbound 15th Ave W (north of W Emerson Street) will be closed for several days this week and next so that Puget Sound Energy (PSE) may relocate a gas line that runs under the intersection. The work is being done in preparation for the final phase of the Ship Canal Trail construction, which is set to begin next month.

PSE will close the Nickerson/15th Avenue W ramp to southbound 15th Avenue W from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. beginning this coming Wednesday, August 24, and continue for up to five days, resuming next Monday, August 29 and Tuesday, August 30 as needed. The roadway will remain open over the weekend.

During this utility work PSE will detour most traffic from W Nickerson Street to W Emerson Street heading east, to access southbound 15th Avenue W. Due to the tight turns, large trucks will be detoured onto westbound W Emerson Street, south along Gilman Avenue W to 20th Avenue W, and then eastbound on W Dravus Street to 15th Avenue W.

There are going to be added congestion and possible traffic delays around Queen Anne over the next few days due to some construction work at two different sites in the neighborhood.

On Thursday, July 7 and Friday, July 8 Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) crews will be grinding and removing existing asphalt on Dexter Ave N between McGraw and Garfield streets, as part of the Dexter repaving project. There will be one lane of travel in each direction, and parking and loading zone restrictions near the work zone, with periodic cross-street and driveway interruptions. SDOT will have uniformed police officers on site to direct traffic. From SDOT:

Drivers should reduce speeds when traveling through the area. Bicyclist should consider utilizing sidewalks or alternate routes. When riding on Dexter Avenue North, bicyclists will share a lane with motor vehicles and should expect grooved pavement and loose asphalt as well as raised utility casting and man holes in the street. There will be increased construction truck traffic.

Once the asphalt removal is complete, crews will begin to repair Dexter Ave’s base pavement and repave the street, which is scheduled to take place later this month. After repaving, SDOT will continue the Dexter Ave N street channelization, installing bus islands, a buffered bike lane, applying new traffic markings and other finals steps.

On Thursday, July 7 SDOT crews will also be performing maintenance work along the eastbound ramp of the Emerson Street Viaduct Bridge to Nickerson Street. From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday traffic flaggers will be on hand to help direct traffic as crews repair expansion joints on the bridge. Commuters should be mindful of the work and allow extra time during their regular commutes.

Starting next week the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will begin lengthening the left-turn lanes on Elliott Ave W at W Mercer Place, as part of Phase II of the Mercer Corridor Project.

In preparation for the project, SDOT will be working on adjusting the rim of a utility access hole along Elliot Ave W this week. All construction will take place on weekdays only, during non-peak travel times. Crews will complete the work over the next three to six weeks. From SDOT:

Starting next week, SDOT crews will first remove the current asphalt island, traffic post, overhead sign and concrete curb. Next, they will pave and restripe the roadway which requires fair weather. Finally, they will adjust the traffic signal timing and install a new overhead sign.

The left-turn from Elliott Ave W onto W Mercer Place will remain open during construction, and signage will guide through traffic, according to SDOT. Drivers should expect congestion and added traffic due to the work and lane restrictions. The work will not interfere with access to nearby businesses, and all closed lanes will be re-opened to traffic during the morning and evening peak commuting periods. For more information, visit the project website.

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has rescheduled road work to lay new asphalt along Dexter Ave N for this week, on Tuesday, May 10 and Wednesday, May 11, weather permitting. From SDOT:

Traffic will be limited to one travel lane in each direction from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. On-street parking will be restricted. Drivers should expect additional traffic congestion and delays and are advised to consider using alternate routes. Uniformed police officers will be present to keep traffic moving at the intersection of Westlake Avenue N and Dexter Avenue N. Bicyclists will merge and share the lanes with vehicles on Dexter or they may use the sidewalks or alternate routes.

After repaving, SDOT will install new bus islands, a buffered bike lane, and new traffic markings and street channelization, as part of an ongoing effort to improve traffic congestion caused by car, bus and bicyclist overlaps along Dexter Ave N.

The repaving phase of the project is expected to be completed in early May. The entire project, which will extend from Fremont Avenue North to Roy Street, will be completed in September of this year. Read more about the project at the Dexter Paving website.

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is preparing for more weekend-long closures at the Mercer Street on and off-ramp to I-5 throughout May.

Work that is part of Mercer Corridor Project will shut down the on and off-ramps for at least two weekends this month: Friday, May 6 to Monday, May 9, and Friday, May 20 to Monday, May 23. The Mercer Street exit and on-ramp may also be closed for a third weekend, from Friday, May 13 to Monday, May 16, pending final coordination with other major work projects in the area.

The I-5 on-ramp at University Street will be concurrently closed to provide more efficient traffic flow around the closed Mercer Street exit lane. Fairview Avenue N will also be closed between Mercer Street and Valley Street. All detour routes will be clearly marked to support traffic flow around the closures.

Mercer Street ramp closures are required for utility installations on Fairview Avenue N at Mercer Street, including water, sewer, electrical and communications line installations, as well as to align the existing on- and off-ramps with the future westbound lanes of Mercer Street.

During weekend closures, Metro Transit plans to reroute its bus service on routes 70, 71, 72, 73 and 83 off of Fairview Avenue N from 11:00 p.m. on Friday to 5:00 a.m. on Monday. Buses will be rerouted via Eastlake Avenue E: northbound between Mercer Street and Galer Street; and southbound from Galer Street to Thomas Street. Rerouted buses will serve posted stops on Eastlake Avenue E, but will not make any stops on the cross streets between Eastlake and Fairview.

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has canceled repaving work planned along Dexter Ave N on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week due to unfavorable weather conditions.

The road work would have decreased traffic down to one lane in each direction between the hours of 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. today and tomorrow, as well as limited on-street parking.

SDOT has not yet set a new time for the paving to take place, but we’ll keep you posted when those dates are scheduled. SDOT plans to complete the paving portion of the project by the beginning of May.

To read more about the Dexter repaving project, which will stretch from Fremont Ave N to Roy Street and will be completed in September of this year, check SDOT’s Dexter Paving project page.

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) began pulling up the pavement along Dexter Ave N between Fremont Ave N and McGraw Street last week, and now it’s time to repave. SDOT crews are planning to lay new asphalt along the stretch of Dexter that marks the eastern edge of Queen Anne hill on Monday, April 25 and Tuesday, April 26, weather permitting. Traffic will be limited to one lane in each direction from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on those days, and on-street parking will be limited in the construction zone. From SDOT:

Drivers should expect additional traffic congestion and delays and are advised to consider using alternate routes. Uniformed police officers will be present to keep traffic moving at the intersection of Westlake Avenue N and Dexter Avenue N. Bicyclists will merge and share the lanes with vehicles on Dexter or they may use the sidewalks or alternate routes.

The repaving of Dexter is one piece of a multi-part plan intended to help ease traffic congestion caused by car, bus and bicyclist overlaps along the thoroughfare. After the paving is completed, crews will install bus islands, a buffered bike lane, and apply new traffic markings and street channelization along the road. This phase of the work  is expected to be complete by early May. The entire project, which will extend from Fremont Ave N to Roy Street, will be completed in September of this year.

For more information on this project, check SDOT’s Dexter Paving project page.

Though the weather report is predicting rain for the weekend, you never know what Seattle weather will do at the last minute. Whether it ends up being a sunny spring weekend or a cloudy one, for those who feel like roaming around town there are going to be a few areas with of lane closures and traffic congestion to avoid:

The Seattle Department of Transportation is closing the northbound right lane of the Battery Street Tunnel from 10 p.m. tonight until 6 a.m. tomorrow, Saturday, March 26 while crews perform electrical work on behalf of the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Drivers should expect temporary lane closures on Aurora Ave N on tomorrow. SDOT crews will be repairing the paving along Aurora, between N 47^th and N 48^th streets, from 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 26.

The Ballard Bridge will also have lane closures throughout the day on Saturday, March 26 to accommodate SDOT crews, who will be grinding down and paving the northbound and southbound lanes at the north end of the bridge (weather permitting). The work will be taking place between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., and at least one lane will remain open in each direction.

And on Sunday, March 27 the southbound lanes of the Ballard Bridge will be blocked for most of the morning, from 6 to 10 a.m., for a commercial film shoot.

Starting on next week SDOT will be closing the southbound right lanes on the Alaskan Way Viaduct at Jackson Street from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. every weekday from Monday, March 28 to Friday, April 8 so that crews may repair railing that was damaged by accidents, though this work is subject to change in the event of emergency work.

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is planning changes along Dexter Avenue N between Roy Street and Fremont Avenue N in 2011. This project is funded by the “Bridging the Gap” transportation levy approved by Seattle voters in November 2006 and is expected to help ease congestion caused by car, bus and bicyclist overlaps. This project will also improve the pavement condition by repaving the street.

Specifically the work is expected to:

• Install a buffered bike lane on each side of the street
• Remove the two-way left turn lane
• Provide dedicated left-turn lanes at busy intersections
• Provide dedicated load zones for businesses that need them
• Provide in-lane bus stops to improve transit speed and reliability
• Install dedicated bus islands
• Install street lighting upgrades
• Construct new and upgraded curb ramps
• Construct sidewalk improvements
• Install drainage upgrades

Roadwork is scheduled to begin in March and will begin just across the Fremont Bridge, spanning Fremont Avenue N (Fourth Avenue N) to McGraw Street. That phase is expected to last 2-3 months.

During construction, you can be expected to experience lane closures, left turn restrictions, pedestrian detours, parking and loading restrictions and instances of weekday and night work.

For more information on this project, visit the SDOT web site.

Wednesday and Thursday, November 17 and 18, a Seattle Department of Transportation  crew will be working on the expansion joints on the eastbound ramp of the Emerson Street overpass to Nickerson Street.  From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day, motorists and bicyclists will be flagged through the work zone and may encounter delays. The sidewalks will not be impacted.

The lane closure on the Ballard Bridge, which has been impacting traffic this week, will continue  into next week.

Photo courtesy the Seattle Department of Transportation

Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) crews have been installing brackets for light poles on the bridge. Marybeth Turner with SDOT tells us the work will continue on Friday and Monday. The curb lane in the northbound direction has closed each morning until 2 p.m.

“Four light poles are being replaced as a temporary measure until next year when all of the lighting on the bridge will be replaced,” Turner writes in a press release. “When SDOT has completed this preparatory work, Seattle City Light crews will install the four replacement poles.”

For the last week and a half crews have been sporadically working on the west side of 3rd Ave W, between W Smith and W Raye streets. Though the work generally stays off the street, it occasionally slows traffic to one lane.

When crews are not working, signs from the Seattle Department of Transportation and Seattle Public Utilities warn pedestrians that the west sidewalk is closed off. We called both SDOT and SPU to see what the work was and when it would be finished (it looks like crews are digging space for a paved sidewalk where there previously wasn’t one, but we haven’t confirmed this).

Neither SDOT or SPU had any records of ongoing construction at this site, and the last few times I’ve passed by there hasn’t been anyone working to question. But the temporary “No Parking” signs across the street say the work will continue from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. through this Friday, May 7.

If anyone has any more information, please comment below.

A section of West Bertona Street will be closed off for repairs on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. According to the Seattle Department of Transportation, maintenance crews will be replacing a concrete panel on Bertona between 3rd Ave W and Nickerson Street, next to the Seattle Pacific University campus. The small block will be closed to traffic from 7 a.m. on Wednesday, September 23 to 6 p.m. Thursday, September 24.

Update:  In case you wondered about all the road construction, this Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) provided this information.  The project originates from a request by the community of Queen Anne.  Utilizing the Neighborhood Street Fund process, the Magnolia/Queen Anne District Council asked for improvements that would both enhance pedestrian safety and improve traffic flow.  

The project has two parts:  
   – Queen Anne Ave N and W McGraw Street:  To enhance pedestrian safety and have the intersection serve as a gateway to the business district, SDOT is building curb bulbs and stamped concrete crosswalks.  The crosswalk improvements will use newly poured concrete finished with a treatment that replicates the look of inlaid brick.  The crosswalks, aided by the new curb bulbs, then provide a clear visual indication that pedestrians have the right of way.  Additionally, several other intersections along Queen Anne Ave N have this stamped crosswalk treatment, so this creates a uniform look in the business district area.   

   – Queen Anne Ave N and W Galer Street:  The sidewalk on the eastern side of Queen Anne Ave N will be expanded to increase the pedestrian space.  It is being extended out into the current street area, which is unusually wide, to create a pedestrian plaza with new street lights and trees.  This will shorten the distance that pedestrians have to cross, making the crossing safer, and will improve traffic flow.
The project is funded by the Bridging the Gap levy.  The voter approved initiative specifically sets aside funds for neighborhood improvement projects just like this.  You can learn more about the project at this Web page.

There was lots of road construction this weekend on the Avenue, starting at the intersection of Queen Anne Ave and McGraw. (Thanks, Loree for the photos.)

In spite of all the roadwork, businesses are still open.

On the other end of the Ave. by the Counterbalance, there seems to be more road construction to widen the road.  We don’t have information on this, but have asked Seattle Department of Transportation for an update.  If anyone has information, could you please post to the Comments section?  It would be much appreciated.