The lower Spokane Street Bridge to West Seattle, a vital lifeline for the neighborhood since the upper West Seattle Bridge closed, will itself close for evening-to-overnight work Friday, Saturday and maybe Sunday. That means anyone biking will need to detour to the 1st Ave S Bridge. Yikes.
And unfortunately, the closures are scheduled to start rather early. Friday, the bridge will close at 8 p.m., but then Saturday it starts at 6 p.m. That might be early enough that people working daytime shifts won’t be able to get home before the closure begins. And if you’re working nights, well, sorry. Hopefully, Sunday’s closure won’t be needed at all, but if so it will also start at 6.
The work is to maintain the bridge’s “controls and communications systems that are used to operate the bridge.” So that sounds important. It would have been great if work could have started later in the evening. But if it prevents a mid-day closure later, then it’s definitely worth it.
The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) will be working at night on the West Seattle Spokane Street Low Bridge the weekend of May 29-31.
We will be doing necessary maintenance work on the low bridge’s controls and communications systems that are used to operate the bridge.
The work will be done at night to minimize traffic impacts and because some of the systems need to be turned off during the maintenance activities.We will be closing the low bridge to vehicle, bike, and pedestrian traffic while we are working at night because we will not be able to open and close the bridge in a normal manner.
As a result, roadway traffic, including freight and buses, will be detoured to the 1st Ave or the South Park bridges. The low bridge will also be closed to bicyclists and pedestrians, and emergency vehicles will have limited access across the bridge. Waterway traffic will be maintained.
These restrictions will only be in place at night while we are working during the following hours:
- Friday night: 8PM to 5AM
- Saturday night: 6PM to 3AM
- Sunday night: 6PM to 3AM (if needed)
During the day, transit, emergency vehicles, freight, bikes, and pedestrians will have access to the bridge.Thank you for your patience and understanding while we do this important maintenance work.
For more information, visit the West Seattle High-Rise Bridge Safety Project website.
Comments
6 responses to “Alert: Lower Spokane Street Bridge will close overnight May 29-31”
Here is a reasonable bike detour to the 1st Ave bridge. With heavy car traffic, using the east sidewalk on 1st in both directions is a good idea.
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27867343
As someone who rides through the area almost daily, I fully endorse this route as one that will be comfortable for most riders.
This route illustrates why we need decent bike infrastructure on Highland Park Way. Otherwise it’s a huge detour for people living in the south part of West Seattle or White Center when the Spokane Street Bridge is not available.
This recent proposal will will help with the uphill side of HPW:
https://westseattleblog.com/2020/05/highland-park-way-holden-whats-proposed-next-for-the-intersection-and-beyond/
Didn’t take long to throw cold water on that idea.
https://westseattleblog.com/2020/05/highland-park-way-hill-rechannelization-on-hold-and-other-news-from-hpacs-discussion-with-sdot/
The uphill bike lane was a poor idea IMO. A river runs down that side of the street in heavy rain. A speeding car that goes out of control will slide toward that side of the road. Significantly widening the path on the south side of Highland is a much better solution.
Politically, the uphill lane would give the carz everywherez lobby a significant target, regardless of the fact that more lanes does not equal more capacity. The bike community does not need this battle.