Those driving through Sodo, take note: Sixth Avenue South and East Marginal Way South will both be closed overnight tonight and some nights next week at South Spokane Street, so that workers can complete construction in the area for the Spokane Street Viaduct widening project.
Sixth Avenue South will be closed at South Spokane Street tonight, Thursday, December 8, and also on Monday and Tuesday, December 12 and 13. Closures will begin at 9 p.m., except on December 12, when work will begin at 11 p.m. The street will reopen at 5 a.m. each morning.
Northbound drivers on Sixth Avenue South will have access to I-5 on-ramps at Sixth and Spokane during the closures.
Northbound East Marginal Way at South Spokane Street will be closed tonight, December 8, from 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. tomorrow morning. The street will be closed to both northbound and southbound traffic next Monday-Thursday, December 12-15 from 11 p.m. until 5 a.m. each following morning.
On Tuesday, December 13, the southbound to westbound turn to the West Seattle Swing Bridge will also be closed from 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. the following morning. Drivers will be directed to a detour via the First Avenue South Bridge.
Further information on the viaduct widening project, which is scheduled to complete in Spring 2012, can be found at the project website.
Beacon neighbors who travel through Sodo should be aware that Fourth Avenue South will be reduced to one lane in each direction each night for up to three weeks beginning this Wednesday, August 3, as part of the work to widen the Spokane Street Viaduct.
Lane reductions on Fourth Avenue South on either side of the South Spokane Street intersection will run from 9 p.m. each night until 5 a.m. the next morning, except for event nights, at which time work will start at 11 p.m. The lane closures are needed for the painting of steel girders.
Stuff is happening this weekend! There’s art, music, dancing, and more happening on (or even through) the Hill today. Here are a few of the things you might want to check out.
First, get out of bed and get over to the Maple School Natural Area work party at 10 a.m. today. This is a monthly event, held every first Saturday. Volunteers will help improve the parkland, then have a community potluck. More info here.
After the hard work, it’s time to enjoy some art, music, or dance. You have several choices tonight.
NEPO Little Treats presents Trotter, an exhibition of works by Amanda Manitach. The opening is tonight, Saturday March 5, from 6 until 8 p.m. Bacon-wrapped dates will be served, and there will be a screening of Cremaster 4 at 8 p.m.
Klara Glosova of NEPO House, smiling at last month's NEPO opening while holding a gun-shaped glass bottle. Photo by Dan Bennett in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr.NEPO Little Treats is a series of monthly shows that focus on presenting new work by individual artists and small groups at NEPO House, 1723 South Lander. Regular open hours are Wednesdays and Thursdays 12 to 2 p.m. and by appointment. More information about NEPO House and the show here. Some photos from last month’s opening are here.
If a musical trip is more your speed, Light Rail, Dark Rail is for you. Live performers including the Beaconettes, Cafe Racer Sessions, Jordan O’ Jordan, Tahoe Jackson, and more will liven up Link Light Rail trains.
Start at 5:30 p.m. tonight at the International District/Chinatown Station for a “summoning performance” by Prawnyxx. Then at 6 p.m., enjoy a “Musical Tour Guide and Overture” on southbound trains to SeaTac. At SeaTac, you’ll deboard, then board a northbound train. One is Dark Rail, and the other is Light Rail—you don’t know which you’ll get. Head to Sodo Station for the after party at Radar Hair + Records, 2721 First Avenue South, at 7:30 p.m.
If you prefer swing dancing, stay up on top of the Hill for the Beacon Rocks!swing dancing fundraiser, from 8 until 11 p.m. tonight at the Garden House, 2336 15th Ave South. There will be a live swing dancing performance and swing-dance lesson by Savoy Swing at 8:15 p.m., a live cake raffle, and more. Suggested donations start at $10.
On Sunday at 3:30 p.m., visit our neighbors in Mount Baker to see the Medieval Women’s Choir perform a short concert at Mount Baker Community Clubhouse, 2811 Mount Rainier Drive South. The choir will sing medieval music with soloist Linda Strandberg, accompanied by period instruments played by percussionist Peggy Monroe and harpist Bill McJohn.
After the weekend’s over, don’t forget the UPTUN quarterly meeting, Nightmares and Opportunities: Broadstripe and City Underserving Neighbors on Monday, March 7 at 7 p.m. at Beacon Lutheran Church, 1720 Forest Street South. See our earlier post for more info.
A few days ago, Mayor Mike McGinn proposed that a city-sanctioned homeless encampment (the tent city previously known as “Nickelsville“) be operated on the site of the old Sunny Jim factory, west of Beacon Hill on Airport Way South between South Adams Street and South Snoqualmie Street. The city-owned Sunny Jim building was recently destroyed by fire. In his blog post about the encampment, McGinn said “A suitable site should accommodate on-site services geared toward moving residents to self-sufficiency… We would seek a nonprofit or other organization to manage the encampment, providing services to residents and data to the City.”
The City is holding two community meetings this Thursday, November 18, to discuss the proposed encampment location. Deputy Mayor Darryl Smith will lead the meetings, and he and other City staff will be available to answer questions.
The first meeting is for adjacent businesses, and will run from 5:30 to 7:00 pm at the City of Seattle sign shop, located on the south end of the Sunny Jim site at 4200 Airport Way South. The second meeting is for the general public, and will run from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. at the Showbox SODO, located at 1700 First Avenue South. For more information about the meetings, contact Elliott Day at 206-233-2664 or elliott.day@seattle.gov.
Over the next few days after McGinn’s proposal was announced, reactions to the announcement on the Beacon Hill and BAN neighborhood mailing lists were mixed. Some neighbors raised concerns about the suitability of the site, given its location just across I-5 from the Beacon Hill greenbelt, and the “Jungle” problems happening elsewhere in the greenbelt. Some commenters were concerned about the potential for accidents from pedestrians running across I-5 between the encampment and the greenbelt. Other commenters wanted to discuss ways that the project could do a better job to help the Nickelsville residents, and the types of structures that might enhance services for the encampment residents.
Photo by ephemera assemblyman via Creative Commons.If you’ve lived on North Beacon Hill for more than a decade, you may recall the smell of brewing beer that used to waft over the Hill every day from the Rainier Brewery next to the freeway on Airport Way South. The brewery closed 10 years ago, but brewing is returning to the historic old brewery building this summer in the form of the Emerald City Beer Company. Washington Beer Blog reports that Emerald City will have a brewery and tasting room/“beer lab,” and they are hoping to have their first batch of beer ready next month. Their flagship brew will be “Dottie’s Seattle Lager,” quite suitable for a building that that produced a lot of lager over the years. See more details at the Washington Beer Blog.
Down comes the old, up goes the new: a brand new sign went up at the North Beacon Washington Federal bank branch this week. Photo by Jason.There is a new Beacon Hill Blog fan page on Facebook. We hope to see you there!
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The Seattle Department of Neighborhoods is looking for places to add new P-Patches, particularly in North Beacon Hill; your suggested locations are welcomed — Rainier Valley Post
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.
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.
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.
