The removal of construction scaffolding from some offramp overpass projects in Sodo will prevent Link Light Rail from running north of Sodo station at Lander Street this weekend. From our news partner, the Seattle Times:
Link light-rail service will not run through the downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel and parts of the Sodo area this weekend as state Department of Transportation contractors remove scaffolding supporting a new offramp over the tracks and station just south of downtown.
Free bus shuttles will carry Link passengers from the Sodo light-rail station at South Lander Street via Sixth Avenue South to the tunnel stations. King County Metro and Sound Transit bus routes that normally use the Sodo busway will also be detoured during the work.
One of several signs posted on the elevators, ORCA scanners, and ticket vending machines at the station entrance.
12:08 pm update: According to an announcement on Sound Transit’s website, the station has reopened. However, you should be aware that the ticket machines at the station are currently not accepting credit and debit cards — cash only. (This problem predates the station closure.)
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The Link light rail station at 2700 Beacon Ave S is closed. bhnw.org scanner logs indicate it is closed until Monday. Metro is running shuttle buses from in front of the station to Mount Baker Station on the east side of the hill. Sound Transit and Metro customer information lines make no mention of this closure as of 10am, but there is a posting on the Sound Transit website.
KIRO noted the closure at about 1am on Twitter: “ST: Beacon Hill Station is out of service, closed. They are experiencing some sort of signal issues. Back up bus service is available.”
Security personnel at the station do not have any information regarding the reason for the closure or when it will re-open.
10:10 update: After multiple attempts and a lengthy wait on hold, a Metro customer service agent says the only information they have is that “The tunnel between stations closed, shuttles until further notice on Saturday.”
Photo by Dru Bloomfield (CC).(For all you youngsters out there, Andy Rooney is a commentator on 60 Minutes.)
Hey Beacon Hill drivers: what’s the rush? I’ve been walking these streets for six years, enjoying the peaceful community, friendly neighbors, and quiet streets. Something changed lately… the streets are not as quiet. Â Maybe the construction traffic for Sound Transit slowed traffic on McClellan, and now people are back to their Speed Racer habits. Â It’s not just arterials, though. Â Folks are flying down side streets, too. Â My older dog and increasing belly are slow—is there some reason we should hurry?
Is your kid late enough to school that you need to rush a pregnant woman crossing 23rd? Did you forget to Tivo your soap opera, making it necessary to drive 40mph down 20th, narrowly avoiding parked cars and cats dashing across the street? Â Is there any reason you absolutely must turn right on red as that senior citizen loaded with groceries is making his way across Beacon?
Unless you have flashing lights to go on top of your car or are driving someone to the hospital—SLOW DOWN! Â Per SDOT: In Seattle, the speed limit on residential streets is 25 mph and 30 mph on arterial streets unless otherwise posted. Drivers are expected to know and obey the speed limit.
Pedestrians (and our pooches, strollers, toddlers) have right of way. Stop, look, and wait for pedestrians at intersections. Perhaps you could use that 20 seconds to meditate… or maybe you could hang up your cell phone, put down your sandwich, and remember that you’re in a metal cage capable of killing someone.
Other Andy Rooney editions that probably won’t be posted in the blog:
Why do teenagers text while crossing the road?
Is it too much to ask for people to pick up after their dogs?
The Jose Rizal Bridge rehab project is starting soon, and to facilitate this work, traffic on the bridge will be reduced to one lane in each direction for the next four months. A sidewalk on one side of the bridge at a time will be closed, and access for pedestrians and bicycles will be maintained on the opposite side. There will also be periodic lane closures on South Dearborn Street under the bridge.
This is probably a photo of the 12th Avenue South Bridge (now Jose Rizal Bridge) in spring 1917, when a mudslide destroyed the southern (wooden) approach to the bridge. The bridge was later repaired. The Jose Rizal bridge was built in 1911, and is the oldest steel-arch bridge in Washington state. This 1912 photo shows the familiar shape of the bridge that many of us cross daily.
A cyclist rides on 14th Avenue South. Photo by Seattle Daily Photo, in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr. “Beacon Hill kids, families and adults, riding bikes to schools, parks, the library and the urban village using a complete circulation system of designated, safe, bicycle routes, including bike boulevards” is the vision of a new group forming on Beacon Hill. The Beacon Family Bike and Pedestrian Circulation Plan Committee invites all interested neighbors to an organizing meeting tomorrow, January 27, from 5:00 – 5:45 pm at the Beacon Hill Library. Organizer Frederica Merrell writes,
“Join neighbors at a meeting to create a safe bike circulation plan that will also benefit walking in our community. Â We are borrowing great ideas from our neighbors to the south in Portland who have been doing family bike planning since 1990 through the Bike Transportation Alliance.
“We want to get kids and adults on their bikes for those short trips on the hill from home to school, the store, McPherson’s, Jefferson Park and the library. Â We don’t want to battle with dangerous arterial traffic. Â We want to create bike boulevards on less busy streets, improve arterial crossings, add signage, and have fun doing it!”
The group’s draft mission is currently “To design, plan and steward the creation of a family bike and pedestrian circulation system for Beacon Hill based on the work of innovative Portland neighbors, PDOT planners, and the Bike Transportation Alliance in coordination with SDOT and components of the SE Transportation Plan, the Bicycle Master Plan and the Pedestrian Master Plan.”
Getting to West Seattle and Sodo from Beacon Hill is going to get more complicated, starting tonight. As we’ve reported previously, the Fourth Avenue South off-ramp from the West Seattle viaduct will be closing permanently starting at 10:00 pm tonight, eventually to be replaced by a new off-ramp at First Avenue South.
Spokane Street (at surface level) will be closed from First to Sixth avenues, though business access will be preserved. The eastbound lanes will reopen sometime in 2010, and the westbound lanes will be closed for the duration of the project.
In more short-term closures, the northbound I-5 ramp to the West Seattle Bridge will close at 10:00 pm tonight and reopen at 5:00 am on Monday. The ramp from westbound Columbian Way to the West Seattle Bridge will also be closed for the entire weekend.
Fourth Avenue South will be closed entirely between South Horton Street and Industrial Way South from 10:00 tonight until 5:00 am tomorrow morning, with possible further restrictions as needed, and the same stretch of road will be reduced to one lane in each direction for at least a month after that. This may include full closure of northbound lanes at night.
Photo by WendiThe city is introducing changes to the neighborhood Residential Parking Zone program this year. Come March, it will be easier to check if you need a parking permit on your block and apply for a permit online. Newly issued decals include the registered vehicle’s plate number, assisting in parking enforcement. (Existing permits will continue to be valid through their expiration date.) Which vehicles must be registered, the number of single-day guest permits, and the number of permits allowed per address are changing as well. No permit will be required for motorcycles and scooters, but a couple of challenging restrictions are coming: no more than four permits per address, and vehicles must be parked within six blocks of the registered address. More information on the 2010 RPZ program changes is available from seattle.gov.
Some big changes are coming as the Seattle Department of Transportation continues the process of widening and improving the South Spokane Street Viaduct (formerly known as the West Seattle Freeway).
The westbound off-ramp to Fourth Avenue South from Columbian Way/Beacon Hill is closing permanently on January 22. From that point on, drivers will need to take alternate routes to SoDo:
From southbound I-5, exit at South Forest Street (before the West Seattle Bridge exit). Turn right on Sixth Avenue South. Turn left on South Lander to access Fourth Avenue South.
From northbound I-5, take exit 163 for the West Seattle Bridge. At the fork, stay right to exit toward Spokane Street/Safeco Field/Qwest Field. Merge onto lower South Spokane Street. Continue until Sixth Avenue South and then follow the detour signs to Fourth Avenue South.
From South Columbian Way, head towards I-5. Follow signs for the West Seattle Bridge. Follow the signs for South Spokane Street/Sixth Avenue South then follow the detour signs to Fourth Avenue South.
In late 2011, a new ramp will open at First Avenue South to replace the Fourth Avenue ramp.
Some other changes are coming in the next few weeks. On January 22, westbound
South Spokane Street (lower roadway) will be closed between Sixth Avenue South and Fourth Avenue South. From January 22-24, the southbound I-5 off-ramp to the West Seattle Bridge will be closed at night. And sometime in February, westbound South Spokane Street (lower roadway) will be closed between Fourth Avenue South and East Marginal Way.
Later, in the spring, the ramp to the viaduct from First Avenue South will be closed and removed.
Good news! Sound Transit has announced Link light rail will be running until about 1:30am on New Year’s Eve. Update: From the Seattle Times by way of the Seattle Transit Blog, the additional train runs will be departing Westlake, southbound, at 12:44am, 12:54am, 1:09am, 1:24am and 1:39am.
Staying on the Hill?
Good news! The Beacon Pub is celebrating the New Year all weekend long. They’ll have a DJ on NYE, and will be hosting their world-famous karaoke Friday and Saturday nights. On New Year’s Day, they’re opening early: 10am for both food and drink, and featuring drink specials all weekend long.
Got something else going on?
Let us know what you’ve got planned in the comments!
We have received a few questions over the last couple of months about the new crosswalk beacons on Beacon Avenue South at South Lander, just in front of Beacon Hill Station. The crosswalk signs and lights were installed in October, but the lights did not function, and no buttons were installed to activate them.
The lights have just started working recently. According to SDOT, the delay was caused when the lights were installed by Sound Transit’s contractor, who installed the wrong wiring for them. The contractor removed and replaced the wiring, and now the overhead crosswalk beacons are on and flashing. (They won’t be button-controlled.)
