The W Thomas St overpass is still not open as materials procurement continues to be a challenge, SDOT recently told Seattle Transit Blog’s Bruce Nourish (who forwarded the email to SBB).

There could maybe be a soft opening of the bridge this month, as the bridge will be operational, though not fully complete. The SDOT’s email to Nourish:

The new timeline for the West Thomas Street overpass is late
September. We are still waiting on some of the materials (handrail and aluminum enclosures) but have a plan in place to have a “soft” opening even if some of the material is not all in. This will require some follow up construction work in October but this will likely not require the overpass to close.

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Nearly nine years in the works, construction on the overpass was supposed to start in mid-2011. Then a lawsuit by Hempfest delayed the start of construction. Once underway, the overpass was supposed open in the spring of 2012. Then it was July. Then August. Then September.

The SunBreak visited the tantalizingly-close-to-finished overpass recently and noticed the missing pieces of handrail that are holding up the project opening for so long.

It’s very close now. Once complete, it will provide a walking and biking link between Lower Queen Anne and Myrtle Edwards Park/the Ellott Bay Trail, long separated by train tracks. It could also usher in the start of a bike boom in LQA, which has long been separated from the rest of the city’s bike facility network by geography, unfriendly roads, highway and train tracks.