Once again the Seattle Department of Transportation will be closing down the Mercer Street on and off ramps to I-5 for two full weekends this month in order to do ongoing work required for the Mercer Corridor Project. The closures will take place from 11 p.m. this coming Friday, August 12 until 5 a.m. on Monday, August 15, and again from August 26 to 29 during the same hours.
Detour signs will be posted around the area, but if you’d like to look up the detour routes beforehand, you may download them both here:
In addition to these two closures, WSDOT will be concurrently closing all lanes on SR 520 from 11:00 p.m. Friday, August 26, to 5:00 a.m. Monday, August 29, between Montlake Boulevard and I-405 in Bellevue. (SR 520 from I-5 to Montlake Boulevard will remain open to traffic). Details on this closure and detour maps can be viewed here.
SDOT will also be implementing a number of other nighttime lane closures related to the Mercer Corridor Project throughout the month:
Beginning as early as Monday, August 1, northbound Westlake Avenue N will be closed overnight between Mercer Street and Valley Street. Northbound traffic, including King County Metro bus routes, will be detoured to Terry Avenue N from 7:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. for approximately one week. Southbound traffic will remain on Westlake Avenue N. For King County Metro bus information, please visit Metro Online at www.kingcounty.gov/metro and check the “Alerts Center.”
Beginning as early as Monday, August 8, nighttime lane closures will occur intermittently on Mercer Street at both Boren Avenue N and Terry Avenue N to accommodate water main installations lasting approximately three weeks. Up to three lanes of Mercer Street will be closed overnight, and Boren Avenue N and Terry Avenue N will have intermittent closures to through traffic between Republican Street and Mercer Street. Work hours are expected to be 7:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m.
See a map of all of SDOT’s ongoing and upcoming construction projects citywide here.
WSDOT contractors will be doing some work on the Aurora Bridge over the next couple months in an effort to strengthen the bridge’s support and prevent it from damage in the event of an earthquake, all while maintaining its unique aesthetic.
As early as June 11, WSDOT workers will begin an 18-month long project to make the Aurora Bridge better withstand earthquakes. Construction will begin on the Fremont side of the bridge and take about six months to complete, after which crews will move on to work on the Queen Anne side.
For more information on the project and the reason it’s being done, visit the WSDOT site.
The April Queen Anne Community Council meeting was well engaged in transportation matters Wednesday night with two presentations by representatives of SDOT and WSDOT.
SDOT Project Manager Eric Tweit gave an overview of the West Mercer Place alternatives that arose in response to problems some Uptown residents have with the Mercer West Project. He mentioned that this had become an issue because of the concerns of the community regarding increased traffic and the lack of pedestrian and bike crossings. The illustrations of alternative No. 1 and No. 2 can be seen here, No. 3 and No. 4 can be seen here, and Elliot Avenue West left-turn lane extension with the alternatives summary can be seen here.
Tweit said that since SDOT’s West Mercer Place open house they’ve been presenting the alternatives to different community groups and will continue to do so through the end of this month. In May, they will make a recommendation to the mayor who will ultimately decide what improvements, if any, will be included in the Mercer West Project.
He cautioned that the $100 million budget for the Mercer West Project doesn’t include the alternatives that are being considered, and the money for any improvement would add to the budget. This new budget would then be subject to a budget submittal process next fall for the Seattle City Council to approve.
During the question portion, residents of West Mercer Place commented on the lack of crosswalks and the effects the increased traffic has had and will have on West Mercer Place.
“I think that one neighborhood is being impacted and taking the hit on this Mercer Street Corridor,” said Freeburg. “The whole area is being devastated by this plan.”
The effects of the Nickerson Street road diet on traffic through West Mercer Place were also discussed at length. Councilmember Marty Kaplan asked Tweit if it was possible to end the road diet for the sake of alleviating some of the traffic through Lower Queen Anne.
“As far as I know, and from what I’ve heard from my director as well, it’s just paint on Nickerson, and the cost to changing it is a lot less than rebuilding the street,” replied Tweit. “That is and always will be an option … West Mercer Place conditions could play into that.”
Mike Rigsby, a consultant working for the Washington Department of Transportation, was also there to discuss the latest developments of the Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Replacement Program. The information presented can be seen via their website.
An update on the Queen Anne Farmers Market was given by Julie Whitehorn after the SDOT presentation, which was concluded with a tense exchange between Whitehorn and councilmember Michael Lapin.
The position of manager for the Queen Anne Farmers Market, held by Whitehorn since 2009, has been uncertain as Whitehorn and Queen Anne Neighbors for Responsible Growth, the parent organization of the market, of which Lapin is a board member, quarrel over financial matters. The dispute between the two sides – QANRG and the Queen Anne Farmers Market Association – was being mediated by the Seattle Office of Economic Development, but negotiations broke down and QANRG is currently looking at another person to manage the market, said Lapin.
“I’m surprised that you came given the fact of all the disarray between OED, Queen Anne Neighbors, and you,” said Lapin, followed by a restrained argument between the two.
Afterwards, Lapin said that he never publicly or privately disparaged anything Whitehorn had done for the market and that she did a great job bringing the farmers market to its current success.
Whitehorn’s Queen Anne Farmers Market update included:
The farmers market ran for 22 weeks last year and grossed $475,000, up 72 percent over the previous year.
In 2010, there were 64 total vendors, up 36 percent.
The market had 30,000 visitors last summer, up 94 percent over the previous year.
They have more farms signed up for this year’s market.
It’s running from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. this summer, rather than closing at 7 p.m., and it’s being held from June 2 to Oct. 6.
Chair Ellen Monrad asked for a volunteer from the board to serve on the Office of Economic Development’s advisory panel regarding the dispute between Whitehorn and the QANRG.
At the end of the meeting, Monrad announced that Queen Anne won the Molly Moon’s contest to be the new locale for the local ice cream shop. The tentative location for the new Molly Moons will be on West Galer Street next to Top Pot donuts, said Monrad.
The construction of a suicide prevention fence along the Aurora Bridge has been completed, according to a report by The Seattle Times. City officials and Seattle residents now hope it can prevent more people from joining the list of 230 jumpers who have leapt to their deaths from the bridge to date.
Construction of the 8-foot, 9-inch-tall safety fence started in the fall and cost $5 million, according to a state Department of Transportation news release. The Legislature’s 2009-2011 transportation budget included $3.6 million to build the fence.
The fence’s construction was lobbied for by Fremont residents and those that work underneath it and was supported by the city of Seattle, King County and the state Legislature. Read more about the need for the fence and why it matters here.
The Stranger is holding a community meeting on the Deep-ore Tunnel project at Town Hall at from 7:30 to 9 p.m. tonight. The event is free and no tickets are required. Here’s the event description:
Governor Gregoire recently announced that bids for the deep bore tunnel on Seattle’s waterfront are at or below budget; tunnel opponents scoff at the likelihood they’ll stay there, and maintain that Seattle will be left holding the bag for inevitable overruns. And this is just the latest battleground—after years of bruising political battles, opponents still voice concerns about tolls and downtown access, while many proponents seem glad simply to have a plan to replace the endangered viaduct. Washington’s Department of Transportation is accepting public comment on the project until December 13th, so if you take them at their word, the conversation isn’t officially over yet. Advancing the skeptics’ case, Stranger news editor Dominic Holden will moderate a session with Mayor Mike McGinn, Councilmember Mike O’Brien, and Drew Paxton (Move Seattle Smarter). Presented by The Stranger.
Read more from The Stranger on the deep-bore tunnel project here. Event information here.
If you’ve driven over the Aurora Bridge lately, you’ve noticed the posts for the long-planned suicide fence rising from the west side of bridge.
WSDOT Aurora Bridge Fence Mock-Up. Photo courtesy of WSDOT.
The Washington State Department of Transportation sent out some information recently on the status of the project:
Yes, those are fence posts sprouting up on the west side of the bridge. Crews begin installing the posts on the night Monday, Nov. 8, and are getting 20 to 30 done each night. So far they’ve installed about a third of the 684 posts that will make up the fence. If you’ve been looking closely as the fence posts go up, you might have a few questions. And we have the answers:
Q. Why is the first fence post at N. 34th Street in Fremont? Is that where the fence begins?
A. No, the fence will begin just north of N. 36th Street right above the Fremont Troll.
Q. But the posts don’t begin until N. 36th Street. Are you sure the fence goes all the way to the Troll?
A. Yes, the posts all look the same, but they differ in how they connect to the bridge. Six different ways, in fact, and there are five different types of posts. These post-to-bridge connections depend in part on whether the post is attached to the steel middle section or the concrete sections at the north and south ends. It turns out that the fence manufacturer completed the posts that connect to the steel sections first and so the contractor is installing them first. The posts in the concrete sections on the west side of the bridge will go up in the next week or two.
Q. Why are there gaps between some of the posts?
A. The gaps indicate locations where we must complete repairs before installing posts. As you may remember, crews discovered corrosion in 23 beams about three months ago. We determined the beams would need to be strengthened before we attached the fence posts at those locations and added this work to the construction contract. We completed part of the repair and are waiting for a manufacturer to build and deliver the steel braces that will reinforce the beams.
Q. When will the fence be done?
A. We had hoped to have the fence done by the end of the year, but the added repair work has taken longer than we anticipated. It also appears that panel installation may take more time as well. These two factors will delay completion by about a month, into early 2011.
Major transportation changes are heading to SR 99 as the deep-bored tunnel option to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct moves forward.
Late last month, the Federal Highway Administration, Washington State Department of Transportation and the City of Seattle released its Supplement Draft Environmental Impact Statement (.pdf), which analyzes the bored tunnel alternative, the preferred option for replacing the Viaduct. The SDEIS report outlines the project’s effects on transportation and the environment.
At the most recent Ballard District Council meeting WSDOT representative Mike Rigsby outlined the project for the community. Read the full story at our sister site, MyBallard.
Since the deep-bored tunnel will affect Queen Anne, Magnolia, Ballard, and other north Seattle neighborhoods, we thought we’d keep you abreast of upcoming community meetings regarding the project. This coming Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m., there will be a hearing at Ballard High School, located at 1418 NW 65th St., to discuss the entire project and the SDEIS. The meeting will be open-house style with display boards and staff to answer questions. Attendees will be able to leave make comments. Until then, read more about the project at MyBallard.com.
(Full disclosure: The Federal Highway Administration, Washington State Department of Transportation and the City of Seattle are sponsors of NextDoorMedia, which owns QueenAnneView and sister site MyBallard.)
Work to build a suicide prevention fence across the Aurora Bridge has been underway for months, but there’s still no sign of the fence itself. WSDOT tells us that will all change next week when crews start putting up the fence posts on the west side of the bridge.
So what’s taking so long? WSDOT says it has been dealing with small details they hope will make a big difference in the end. They drilled about 2600 holes for anchor bolts, used an x-ray device to make sure they didn’t hit rebar, and repaired the bridge’s steel that was damaged by corrosion.
The fence posts will go up first, followed by the fence panels. The fence should be finished by the end of the year. Image from WSDOT
The Washington State Department of Transportation will be closing down the Alaskan Way Viaduct this weekend for a semi-annual structural safety inspection. From WSDOT:
Both decks of the viaduct will be closed from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 16 and 17, between Spokane Street and the Battery Street Tunnel.
During the closure, Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) and city of Seattle crews will inspect the structure for settlement and perform routine maintenance and preservation work such as: Applying a protective covering to exposed rebar; servicing drainage systems and traffic cameras; washing the walls of the Battery Street Tunnel and inspecting its lighting and ventilation systems; and restriping the roadway.
WSDOT will release preliminary inspection results by Friday, Oct. 22.
WSDOT advises drives to leave extra time for commuting, as they increased congestion on I-5 and other major north-south routes is expected during the closure. Drivers may check traffic conditions before they leave at www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic, or via the voice-activated driver information line, 511.
Just when you thought WSDOT was finally done with its work on the Aurora Bridge, it turns out crews found more rivets to remove. Crews found the rivets when they began repairing corroded steel portions of the bridge at 23 fence post locations.
Photo from WSDOT
It means more lane closures and planning for traffic delays if you’re using the bridge this weekend.
On Saturday, Sept.25, two out of the three northbound lanes will be closed from 5:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.
On Sunday, Sept. 26, two out of three northbound lanes will be closed from 5:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and again from 6 p.m. until midnight. Seahawks fans, WSDOT is giving you that window of opportunity to use all the lanes from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. to accommodate post game traffic.
There are a total of 186 additional rivets that must be removed as part of the steel repair work. The rivets are located under the bridge in tight areas where access is difficult, requiring at least two more weekends to bust them out.
WSDOT can provide you with industrial strength earplugs if all this racket is causing too many sleepless nights. Call its 24-hour noise hotline, 206-440-4099, for more information.
The work is part of a WSDOT project to install an anti-suicide fence on the outer railing of the bridge. Work began in May.
Unfortunately, there was a recent suicide from the bridge on Sept. 11. One of our readers, Ryan Healy, who lives on 34th across the street from the Lake Washington Rowing Club, and has a view directly of the bridge and water beneath it, e-mailed us to let us know.
I heard her scream and looked up in time to see her hit the water with a loud and large splash. I called 911 and I thought I saw her swimming on the surface. A pleasure boater came to her rescue and pulled her on to the boat but she was motionless. After the police and fire crews arrived and were about finished I walked down near the Lake Washington Rowing Club dock to check on her condition. I asked a fire department official if she was going to be ok. His response was simple: “No.”
This is the second suicide I’ve seen in the past 5 months.
Seattle Police confirmed there was a successful suicide from the bridge that day at about the same time as our reader mentioned, about 1:15 p.m.
After three consecutive Sundays of rivet busting and lane closures on the Aurora Bridge, crews will take this Sunday off to keep traffic moving smoothly over the Labor Day weekend. Rivet removal, along with the ”rivet buster” equipment, will pick up again on September 12.
Crews continue to work Monday through Thursday nights drilling holes for the suicide prevention fence across the bridge. Photos from WSDOT
For the second Sunday in a row, the Washington State Department of Transportation crews will be closing lanes on the Aurora Bridge this weekend while crews work on the ‘rivet buster’ suicide fence. Commuters planning a trip downtown on Sunday should plan for delays or take an alternate route. Photo from WSDOT’s Flickr page.
Crews will be working on the east side of the bridge, closing down two northbound lanes.
Access to northbound SR 99 from Halladay near Canlis will be open. Lane closures will be from 6 a.m. to midnight again, with the noisy work beginning as early as 7 p.m. and continuing until 11 p.m. Since they will be on the east side of the bridge, the sound will likely travel further into Lake Union this time.
WSDOT has been posting some pretty incredible photos of the work, which will continue through September 5, on its Flickr page. Check those out here.
Even Nyquil won’t help you get your Zzzz’s if you live near the Aurora Bridge and you’ve heard it. By “it,” we mean that “loud as a monster woodpecker banging on a metal tree” sound that might have interrupted a few good nights’ rest.
It’s the latest development in the Aurora Bridge Fence Project (the anti-suicide barrier) from WSDOT. We’ll let them tell it:
A couple of weeks ago our contractor began using a tool called the Rivet Buster to remove rivets and bolts on the historic bridge. In many ways the Rivet Buster was a great tool. It was fast, efficient, safe and environmentally sound. But it was really loud. Can’t get any sleep loud. So loud that some of your neighbors got up in the middle of the night to write us or call our 24-hour noise hotline (206-440-4099). And we listened.
As of this posting the Rivet Buster is on hiatus while we look into quieter ways to remove the rivets and bolts that meet our safety and environmental standards, and keep us on schedule. If those don’t pan out, the Rivet Buster will be on a 10 p.m. curfew.
Counter-intuitively, WSDOT says the work can’t be done during the day.
It comes down to safety and traffic. Workers need to close two lanes of the bridge to create a safe work zone. When two out of three lanes are closed at night, traffic can scoot by without many slowdowns. But if we closed two out of three lanes during the day, that could cause some lengthy backups on Aurora Avenue and send the spillover traffic over to Fremont and Dexter avenues.
It’s a delicate balancing act where one person’s cost is another person’s benefit. The bus rider that gets on the 358 at N. 46 St. wants to get to work on time. The person living under the bridge wants a good night’s sleep. The taxpayer wants the project to stay on budget. And the construction worker wants to come home safe. And yes, we really do think about how our decisions affect each of them.
They expect to have the work done by the end of this year or early 2011.
Residents who live near the Aurora Bridge will have a few nights of relief from the month of expected nighttime noise surrounding the construction of a nine-foot safety fence over the bridge. WSDOT announced today that construction on the fence, which was scheduled to begin on Monday night, April 19, will be postponed due to an equipment problem. A new estimated start date for the work has not yet been announced.
From WSDOT:
When construction on the safety fence does begin, crews will work Sunday through Thursday nights and will work on one side of the bridge at a time. Construction will close two lanes and the adjacent sidewalk across the bridge from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. nightly. WSDOT expects to finish installing the fence by the end of the year.
When construction does start up again, WSDOT says it will be extremely noisy. If you still haven’t received your free industrial strength earplugs, call 206-267-6019. Follow the fence project progress here.
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WSDOT contractors will be doing some work on the Aurora Bridge over the next couple months in an effort to strengthen the bridge’s support and prevent it from damage in the event of an earthquake, all while maintaining its unique aesthetic.
