How is traffic rerouting itself around the closed University Bridge?
The break closed the bridge in both directions, causing a traffic nightmare in the area.P-I:
...a traffic nightmare expected to continue through at least Thursday evening's commute.Seattle Times:
More than 31,400 vehicles use that route every day, and the closure snarled the other bridges over the Ship Canal at the Montlake Cut, and in Fremont and Ballard.Post a comment to share your personal experience with "remove a bridge" traffic. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at May 03, 2007 10:21 AM | Email This
The malfeasance and gross neglect of the Mayor and Council, past and present, is undeniable. The same malaise infects King County also. Their citizens have been betrayed by the leaders they elected for decades. How much longer will this incompetence and mismanagement be tolerated?
Posted by: Paddy on May 3, 2007 11:10 AMI never realized the problem of law breaking foreigners was quite as large as it is. I think a lot of people are in the same boat. Getting a tighter handle on this issue is going to be a big campaign issue and we may even see some action on it.
I wonder how many of these rally participants actually understand they probably made their own situation worse?
You seem to be in the pocket of Tax-And-Spend crowd that want to put tolls on the road and fund every idiot project that Head Toad Sims can conceive.
What's more you're analysis is ridiculous. Of course, initially traffic will be snarled as most people don't realize the bridge is out.
But, traffic will find a flow, people will reroute and so on.
Case in point -- I was travelling downtown from Kent to Seattle at 8pm.
You know how much traffic there was?
ZERO! NONE.
At 8pm there is no traffic problem...which means that potentially, if managed right, there doesn't have to be one at 6am or 3pm.
BTW --
Boo!
http://americandinosaur.mu.nu/archives/nancy_pelosi.jpg
Folks in Seattle are awfully fragile aren't they??
If I were Al Qaeda, it's probably the first major City I would hit. Heck, most of these KLOWNS run out of there homes waving a white flag when some kid lights a "cherry bomb" on 4th of July.
At some point, Seattle will reach the cost of living saturation point...especially regarding taxes. What happens when building slows down??
Permit fees, sales tax, real estate excise taxes and wages all DROP. How will that affect the tax base? If they are continually raising taxes in Boom-Times, how will they handle the impact of a dip??? Raise taxes twice as fast??
The problem with yer average KLOWN is they can't see beyond their noses. They live for today despite professing to be concerned about our children's future. They are incapable of seeing obvious future negative consequences of their actions as negativity is not allowed in their Marxist Playbook. UTOPIA OR BUST!!
They also are New Age Progressives progressing toward fiscal disaster (obvious to any rational thinkers). They mistake motion for action....spending millions & millions on planning. They feel planning & process are somehow products???
Look folks, I am sorry for you Right-headed thinkers that choose to live in Seattle and are caught in this Marxist "wet-dream". But trust me, there will be NO CHANGE until you average KLOWN experiences a deep, lasting pain. Then they will elect Conservative to clean up their mess...like they did in Denmark.
Posted by: Mr. Cynical on May 3, 2007 12:04 PMIf you did that drive every day, you'd know that northbound into Seattle is opposite from the main traffic flow. So at 8PM there won't be any traffic.
Posted by: Steve in Queen Anne on May 3, 2007 12:14 PMIn the age of mass man, very long. It's how we got here in the first place.
In a car, you choose your own route and schedule. With light rail, someone else chooses both for you. And no matter how 'smart' or 'enlightened' someone else is, their plans for your movements will never be as good as your own.
Posted by: Hank Bradley on May 3, 2007 12:32 PMEspecially when it is in addition to all the existing fluff and proposed fluff such as the bicycle path are considered "essential" and extorted from me before essential services are provided.
I say, pay for these events as they come up. Fix them in two days with money saved in our city budget for such surprises. That's what I do around my house.
And by the way. The current event is not a "sinkhole". It is a "blowout".
Posted by: Bart Cannon on May 3, 2007 12:45 PMWhat you're basically saying is that with better "management", you can shove 10lbs of potatoes into a 2lb. sack.
I had the misfortune of going to the UW from the eastside today. The traffic on 520 was fine, until you got to the UW/Montlake offramp. The problem? All those that normally take the University Bridge did "reroute and find a new flow", causing Montlake to be backed up from having to pick up the excess traffic. You seem to forget that this town has built in choke points with all the lakes, rivers, canals, and the Sound. Cut off flow through one of those choke points (the University Bridge), and the others (the Montlake and Freemont Bridges) have to pick up the slack, causing them to be backed up.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you try to shove 10lbs of potatoes into a 2lb sack, suddenly trying to shove another couple of pounds in it isn't going to make things better.
The same analogy goes for the drive from Kent to Seattle. Of course there's no traffic at 8pm, because no one is trying to drive to Seattle from Kent at 8pm. It's really easy to shove a pound of potatoes into a 2lb sack. But at 8am, when you're effectively trying to shove 15lbs into that 2lb sack, all the "management" in the world isn't going to help the fact that there is simply more traffic than the road can hold.
The only way to fix it is either force people to get rid of their potatoes or get a bigger sack. I for one happen to like my potato.
Posted by: Mike H on May 3, 2007 02:07 PMAdditionally, most "surface-gridlock" supporters say that traffic would reroute itself and be less of an issue after a longer period of viaduct closure than one day. If the University Bridge is closed for a week, two weeks, maybe we'll see a difference.
Posted by: Lincoln O on May 3, 2007 03:20 PM(1) 95 to 100 year old infrastructure (water main) not replaced at end of its design life and it fails and everyone is caught by surprise...........hmmmmmmmm.
(2) Loss of a single "minor" (limited number of lanes of traffic) bridge snarls traffic in Seattle........So what is going to happen when the viaduct is removed from the picture for several years?
(3) Let's say that a major earthquake causes some bridges to collapse, overpasses to collapse, or power lines to fall over roads..........Will the same folks that put up road closed signs (an not even put up "detour" signs) and left motorists to fend for themselves allow earthquake survivors to fend for themselves in getting home or to safety?
(4)Since the political elite believe in mass transit, what happened to the busses, etc, that cross the University bridge, when it closed. Will the masses that are encouraged to use "mass transit" be left to fend for themselves?
I think that the handwriting is on the wall intelligent people and intelligent business owners will be leaving Seattle for the safety of their employees and the health of their companies.
Makes one want to hurl - doesn't it ?
Posted by: KS on May 3, 2007 10:26 PM1.....2.....3......times?
Posted by: GS on May 3, 2007 11:26 PMBob--
I think you are correct. Seattle has made it economically impossible for some businesses to function profitably in the future due to both the time & expense cost of moving people & goods around.....plus the future political risk of massive tax increases to pay for all of this deferred maintenance & rebuilds.
The 1st ones out the door have already occurred.
Many more to come.
Those who act now can escape with their asses.
Those who wait.....will pay one way or another.
There was a big line entering I-5 from south Capitol Hill but it all went pretty smoothly. Only noticed about a 10 min difference in my commute.
My company will be soon leaving the traffic snarled King County for smoother lanes in Snohomish County. Been in Seattle for 50 years and we are done.
Besides, I am looking forward to living minutes from work, no freeway necessary!
Posted by: digitalfotographer.com on May 5, 2007 09:24 AM