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TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Tuesday updates; T-5 protesters & bigger police response; truck stall on high bridge

June 9, 2015 7:14 am
|      42 COMMENTS
 |   West Seattle news | West Seattle traffic alerts

(Four WS-relevant views; more cams on the WSB Traffic page)
7:14 AM: Again this morning, protesters are back on the road to Terminal 5 west of the low bridge; SDOT reports “minimal impact to general traffic at this time.” Also of note from SDOT – if you use 1st Avenue South, road work has closed the left lane just north of Spokane Street.

TONIGHT: Congratulations to the WSHS Class of 2015, graduating tonight at 6 pm at Southwest Athletic Complex – so things will be busy in that area.

SATURDAY VIADUCT CLOSURE REMINDER: We’ll be reminding you daily; northbound Highway 99, from south of West Seattle to lower Queen Anne, is one of the roads that’ll be closed around the area Saturday for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon/Half Marathon. The 99 closure is scheduled for 5 am-3:30 pm Saturday. See the full list here.

7:30 AM: We’ve gotten some texts about a big Seattle Police presence by the Delridge Community Center:

This is NOT about any incident in that area – it’s staging for the aforementioned protest, and more of the units headed out toward Terminal 5 as our crew stopped to check on the situation. For the past few days of protests, the response has mostly involved bicycles, but as you can see in our photo, this time a sizable number of squad cars are involved too, and you might want to pre-emptively avoid the North Delridge and vicinity approach to the low bridge until we see where all this is going.

7:57 AM: More police are arriving in the protest vicinity at Spokane/Marginal/Delridge/Chelan.

8:10 AM: Here’s an overview from Russ, looking north from the Alki Trail toward the protest zone.

One group of protesters who had been chained together, blocking part of a road, has gotten up and moved. Police are going to each group and warning them they’ll be arrested if they don’t move.

So far, we’ve seen two groups who moved on voluntarily. Russ also sends this view from further east:

8:30 AM: We asked members of the protest group if they planned to be back this afternoon (as they were yesterday). They said no – their focus is on the Port Commission meeting (1 pm, downtown waterfront).

8:37 AM: The situation at and near Terminal 5 may be winding down. Via scanner, police report “unhooking” the protesters who were blocking the flyover ramp from the low bridge.

8:56 AM: Definitely winding down; many of the extra officers have departed and the protester presence on the ground was down to the self-described “Grannies.”

9:23 AM: Traffic problem unrelated to the protest – stalled dump truck on the high bridge:

Thanks to the texter who sent that photo (from the passenger seat, they point out!). This is mentioned in comments, too. No info on how long it’ll take to clear.

9:49 AM: Via scanner, we hear police working on getting that truck cleared.

10:02 AM: SDOT says it’s cleared. Moving on to other news; thanks as always for tips, info, photos – so long as you can safely/legally call/text/send (as a passenger, or a bystander, or after you get to your destination), 206-293-6302, any time, 24/7.

2:18 PM: Postscript on morning protests – we called SPD to doublecheck after seeing at least one regional-media organization report that people were arrested toward the end. SPD spokesperson Det. Drew Michaud says no one was arrested; the six who were taken into custody were interviewed and released, *not* arrested.

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42 Replies to "TRAFFIC/TRANSIT TODAY: Tuesday updates; T-5 protesters & bigger police response; truck stall on high bridge"

  • sam-c June 9, 2015 (7:53 am)

    That was crazy. I’ve never seen so many police cars flying up Delridge in a row.
    Literally 20+ cars speeding up Delridge.

  • Dusky June 9, 2015 (7:53 am)

    West Marginal Way is backed up to the South. A coworker said he saw protestors sitting in the road over to T5 si now trucks have no where to go. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee for all us working types.

  • TW June 9, 2015 (8:10 am)

    Assuming it’s related, but not sure. Rapid Ride C has been inching along Avalon approaching bridge entrance for almost ten minutes now.

  • zackpanic June 9, 2015 (8:12 am)

    The police are also protesting against Shell – but they don’t carry signs, and they’re in uniform, so it’s a little confusing.

  • beef June 9, 2015 (8:14 am)

    Took me 25 min to get through coming from west marginal. The big pile of police cars were coming from delridge trying to cross the intersection.

  • Stiles June 9, 2015 (8:21 am)

    Traffic is really backed up on Avalon all the way to the bridge. Not sure what’s causing it but pack your patience.

  • D June 9, 2015 (8:27 am)

    This is a stupid waste of time and money.

  • Chris o June 9, 2015 (8:28 am)

    Traffic is parked all the way up Avalon. Taking 20 minutes to get from genessee to Luna park cafe.

  • Mike June 9, 2015 (8:39 am)

    Minimal impact? Bwahahaha, Admiral Way was backed up to the lookout before 7:30 AM. Even cyclists were road raging to get through traffic along Delridge when I tried that route to bypass the backup to the bridge from Admiral Way.

  • ktrapp June 9, 2015 (8:42 am)

    The problem isn’t that they’re blocking traffic (they’re not). It’s that by standing right at the intersection, they must be triggering the sensors there. So it’s disrupting the stop light timing. Cars move through pretty quickly. They just have to sit there at the intersection for several minutes at a time as the light turns green for a blocked road. And for those who use that intersection a lot, you already know that it’s one of the worst timed lights in the city without someone messing with it.

  • HF June 9, 2015 (8:44 am)

    As I was leaving 5 police cars with lights flashing but no sirens flew up 26th. I told my husband to be careful as I had no idea what was going on-of course one would think something major is going down…
    Lights on & speeding up a residential street just to stage for a later protest seems a bit excessive and caused some unneeded worry.

  • SJ2 June 9, 2015 (8:45 am)

    Shell should be responsible for paying for some of this! This is ridiculous!

  • Buy Shell gas June 9, 2015 (8:47 am)

    The bridge is bad because 1st and 4th exits are jammed.

  • jetcitydude June 9, 2015 (9:03 am)

    They are illegally protesting, wasting our tax dollars on police and not one will go to jail. Messed up!

  • Coop June 9, 2015 (9:04 am)

    Wow.. Almost 30 min to get to a jammed bridge to get to a jammed viaduct to get to work an hour late. Wth.

  • GoBacktoWork June 9, 2015 (9:09 am)

    I have been caught in this protest-related traffic congestion for 3 days now near Marginal Way and Chelan. I have called, and will continue to call, the Southwest Precinct and the Seattle Police non-emergency line to inquire as to why the police are not arresting protesters that are unlawfully blocking a public road. Since both numbers refuse to give details, I will also be issuing a complaint to the Office of Professional Accountability for the police not enforcing laws when they already have a presence at the location. Finally, I will be contacting the Mayor’s office and City Council to issue complaints as well. Message to protesters: your desire to get our attention has been heard. I will now engage in the political process to ask why the police and politicians are allowing unlawful blocking of public roads by protesters. I am all for public protesting, but it needs be done within the confines of the law. Any mayor or city council member unwilling to either 1) enforce laws, or 2) have them changed since they won’t enforce them has lost my vote. BTW, I am all for renewable forms of energy…

  • Perspective June 9, 2015 (9:14 am)

    There is a broken down large dump truck with tandem filled with dirt on upper bridge at the merge of Delridge that is messing with traffic.

    What a waste of time and money.

  • John June 9, 2015 (9:29 am)

    Never mind….. I wrote something positive about the protestors but erased it. I see West Seattle residents hate anything that disrupts their driving.

    • WSB June 9, 2015 (9:43 am)

      That’s your choice to edit the comment in the window (whenever a post’er edits a comment, it throws it back into the queue to be re-reviewed) but 15 comments do not represent the opinion necessarily of 100,000 residents. (Nor do 50, nor even 500 necessarily.) Maybe they do, maybe they don’t, but certainly not a scientific representation, I always try to remind people if they assume that any given comment discussion represents the entirety of the peninsula.

      • WSB June 9, 2015 (9:44 am)

        P.S. As noted above, the stalled truck that’s now causing trouble is *not* related to the protest. It’s a construction-type trailer/dump truck and it sounds like police are still trying to work out how to handle it.

  • D June 9, 2015 (9:47 am)

    Yeah….I totally agree with GoBacktoWork.
    Are the protestors immune to other perspectives and impacts that they make to others?

    Kindof ridiculous.

  • DP June 9, 2015 (10:09 am)

    Love the chaos.

  • Blinkyjoe June 9, 2015 (10:17 am)

    If you live in admiral, Alaska or Morgan jct, Delridge or as far south as Roxbury, and work near downtown as far north as say….interbay, riding a bike is safe, easy and unaffected by traffic. The drawbridge is an average 5minitue delay. (I’ve been timing is as a bike commuter for 7 years) I’ve been slipping past the protests with no problem. With this nice weather, I’d encourage folks to give it a try!

  • wes June 9, 2015 (10:28 am)

    During yesterday’s evening commute, the protesters were blocking the ingress to the bike path at the opposite side of the intersection from the low bridge, forcing all cyclists who wished to use the path to dismount and hop the curb. During rush hour that amounted to a dozen or more cyclists each light cycle. I told them that they were blocking the bike path, and one of them rather nastily retorted “No we’re not, a-hole” (they used the long form of that expletive). Way to get your point across! Attack even those who are commuting without using fossil fuels…

  • Born on Alki 59 June 9, 2015 (11:28 am)

    Dear Shell Oil:
    Please hurry up and get the Polar Pioneer to Alaska. These “peaceful” protests are keeping us up nights and making everybody in West Seattle late for work and cranky. We promise to purchase your products and use them responsibly.

    Thank You,
    Signed, 99% of West Seattle.

  • Rick June 9, 2015 (11:42 am)

    Protesters, you’ve done it now. Inconveniencing cyclists. Oh,the horror!

  • RachaelB June 9, 2015 (12:13 pm)

    Just came home for lunch and the traffic light at Fauntleroy Way SW and SW Oregon Street is flashing red in all directions. Looks like someone took out the walk signal pole with a car. SDOT does seem to be in the area. A lot of people are not treating it as a 4 way stop.

  • wes June 9, 2015 (1:27 pm)

    LOL, @Rick, believe me, the irony did not escape me :)

  • alkipug June 9, 2015 (2:21 pm)

    Shell and Foss should sue these idiots if SPD won’t arrest them

  • Gail June 9, 2015 (3:20 pm)

    20 min to go 3-4 blocks on Andover toward Delridge this am before I gave up. Why does W. Seattle get to enjoy these protests and the rest of Seattle does not. Protesters – share the love, cause you are losing support in this hood. WSB – any response/input from the SPD about this?

    • WSB June 9, 2015 (3:33 pm)

      (a) West Seattle, because Terminal 5 is here. However, it’s not the only place they’re protesting today; I’ve written about the protest that ended the Port Commission meeting early (apologies that we weren’t there in person, planned to be but couldn’t afford to lose the half hour to get downtown), and there’s a rally on Capitol Hill tonight. Police did respond more proactively today than we’d seen in previous protests, moving to each individual pod of locked-down protesters and giving them the choice to move or be arrested; all moved except the Grannies, who subsequently were taken into custody but NOT arrested (despite what a couple citywides are reporting, SPD says they were interviewed and released, not actually arrested). If you disagree with how these are being handled – whether you think police etc. should be more aggressive, more lenient, whatever – remember their ultimate boss is the mayor, so you might consider directing feedback there .. TR

  • anonyme June 9, 2015 (3:25 pm)

    John, don’t feel guilty. I support the protestors, even though I was on a #21 that got held up forever this morning. However, I didn’t see any protesters causing the backup. Too bad we no longer live in a country where protest, no matter how inconvenient, is viewed as one of the essential tools of democracy.

    What I did see once we got over the bridge was no less than FOUR trains that caused yet another half hour wait on the bus – most of it oil tankers.

  • jetcitydude June 9, 2015 (4:59 pm)

    The mayor already demonstrated in the past that he’ll let protesters have their way even when breaking the law.

  • DP June 9, 2015 (5:16 pm)

    LOL @ D. You’re seriously going to call out the protestors for “not caring about their impact on others” while Shell clearly doesn’t care about their impact on the planet?

  • catsup June 9, 2015 (7:29 pm)

    @DP – Word up.

  • Seriously June 9, 2015 (7:36 pm)

    Sorry but this protest is a complete waste of time. If you want to protest something go protest the coal usage in China. That’s contributing a heck of a lot more to global warming than this oil rig.

  • DP June 9, 2015 (8:00 pm)

    @ Seriously – you’re free to think that the protestors are wasting their time, but the protests aren’t simply about what this one specific rig is doing or may potentially do. Part of the message is about companies unwilling to leave parts of this planet alone.

  • Seriously June 9, 2015 (9:08 pm)

    And that message isn’t going to get accomplished by the side of the road by the chelan cafe. Sorry but the companies are pumping the oil because the American consumer is demanding their product. We are just as much at fault as shell, Exxon, or chevron.

    The solution to this problem will not be one of demonizing companies who are providing a legal and necessary product. It will require a political solution from politicians that don’t just give lip service to the issue to score cheap political points but rather do something about it. Kind of like our mayor who then turns around and flies half way around the world with an unnecessary entourage. Sorry but that’s cheap political theater.

    The solution politically will start with significantly higher fuel standards for all cars on the road. The technology already exists. Why hasn’t it happened? Protest in DC. Campaign and raise money for a pro environment politician and protest and call out the ones that aren’t.

    But don’t cause a traffic jam of hard working folks just trying to get to work by the side of a road cause you think you’re changing anything. It’s a waste of time.

  • Mike June 9, 2015 (9:18 pm)

    ” remember their ultimate boss is the mayor, so you might consider directing feedback there”
    .
    Although they work for the same city, the mayor has minimal impact on what the police will actually do. If you want to have actual results, you need to change the union that determines what police will actually do. The mayor will enact his band of zealots when the mighty dollar flies around. 3rd Pike/Pine was cleaned up finally after many complaints going unheard, but it’s like magic when Facebook announces they’re arriving, Oracle has an office there, Twitter has an office there, etc.
    .
    In the end, unions and money drive what happens.
    .
    That’s my opinion at least.

  • Bradley June 10, 2015 (7:58 pm)

    I’m going to get gas at Shell today instead of my Usual Safeway or Arco. I rarely, if ever, buy Shell gas. But I’ll do it for now on just to stick it to these hysterical Chicken Littles holding our West Seattle hostage with their silly protests against civilization.

  • John June 11, 2015 (7:35 am)

    @Bradley, I thought you had to be 16 years old to drive in this State?

Sorry, comment time is over.