Vashon Verité
A candid slice of Island life, from short feature digests to guess-where snapshots.
Viaduct-less: It’s already hell
October 23rd, 2011 at Sun, 23rd, 2011 at 5:01 pm by heidiskrzypek
- The Viaduct pause; hope it’s worth it.
Saturday (yesterday) we ventured to Seattle Center and opted to use the city streets as our passage after crossing the West Seattle Bridge. All was well until nearing the First Ave. South exit; then the backlog commenced. It was 12:10 p.m. Already, cars were using the bus lane to cut over to the offramp and my loathing for rude drivers churned. The short version: It took us an hour to get to Seattle Center.
Along the way, we witnessed the ceremonious “farewell” during the two-week closure and more loathing kicked in. In a sea of red tail lights, unrealized (full) green light intersections and a halted viaduct in view only one thought came to mind: WE ARE SCREWED, VASHON! Mid day traffic on a Saturday (no games in progress at SoDo)? What’s going to happen Monday when the real traffic arrives to swell on city streets? As much as I’ve read the “Don’t believe the doomsday” advice about the viaduct closure, I can tell you that the P.O. boat commute already is a crapshoot to make or not make the cut; it was nice having a plan B to come home via Fauntleroy – now is where things get REALLY interesting. I hope the City of Seattle and King County Metro are ready for the cluster that’s about to hit.
Commuters, you have my deepest sympathies. Right there with ya. -h
heidiskrzypek Island mom and wife. Gainfully employed Seattle copywriter. Vashon forager. Emerging swimmer. Fan of dancehall reggae, good cooking, shallow reality TV shows, and public radio.
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