The West Seattle Bridge Community Task Force meeting moved to a new YouTube stream platform that was based on the Zoom meeting tool for the most recent virtual gathering on Sept. 23 and aside from some odd subtitling issues the meeting and break out sections went well. 

You can watch the entire meeting

and presentation on YouTube HERE.

This 2 hour plus meeting focused on the Cost Benefit Analysis process that SDOT, its consultant WSP and the Technical Advisory Panel are utilizing to "weight" various factors as they move toward a repair or replace decision on the bridge in mid to late October.

The next meeting is set for October 7 at Noon.

But first up was a quick update on the short term repair efforts from Director of the West Seattle Bridge Safety Program Heather Marx. She touched on the anchors that are being installed inside the girders to which post tensioned steel cabling will be attached.

Marx then moved on to the Low Bridge Sub Committee. The role of the sub committee is to represent the perspective of local businesses whose use of the low bridge is often essential to their operation. On the committee right now are Lora Radford, Dan Austin, Ken Bowden, Bob Watters, John Persak, and Andrew Darbyshire. They are looking for another member from the Duwamish Valley to join them.

Next up was Sara Zora, Mobility Manager for the West Seattle Bridge Safety Program.  She introduced the changes intended for West Marginal Way SW. The changes SDOT intends to make are comprehensive and meant to address both long standing concerns and issues brought on by the closure of the bridge. They want to address the need for a safe crossing at the Duwamish Longhouse, speeding, access to and from businesses on the river side, and missing links in pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure.

With a 182% and 121% increase in traffic volume near the Longhouse and at the Highland Park Way SW intersections changes are required. The proposed improvements include a new crossing signal at the Longhouse, a restriction of westbound left turns from West Marginal Way through restriping, moving the bus stop to the north side of the intersection, making a right turn only lane off West Marginal northbound and hoping to achieve a 20% greater westbound traffic flow as a result. They plan to have the changes made before the end of the year.

Also coming to the corridor are radar feedback signs, alerting drivers to their speed by the end of the year, a new asphalt sidewalk on the westside near the Longhouse that is currently just a grassy path. That should be done by mid year next year.

A Duwamish Trail connection to fill the gap between the river and the West Seattle Bridge Trail will convert the west Southbound travel lane signal into a 2 way protected bike lane and possibly extend it to the Longhouse, by late summer 2021.

More controversial are the proposed changes for freight mobility improvementa intended for West Marginal Way. SDOT acknowledges that more engagement is needed. They are proposing that a northbound FAB lane (the curb lane on the east side) be established to "facilitate driveway access and turning movements". Speaking on behalf of the Port of Seattle, Peter Steinbrueck said "The Port is not interested and doesn't support such a change."

Also proposed are signal and lane changes for southbound traffic noting that today 80% of southbound vehicles are using the inside lane. The changes they say would increase southbound travel by 10 second on average and northbound travel by 5 seconds. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Led by Greg Izzo, Tranportation Capital Projects Manager for SDOT the process of how the decision will be finally reached was explained.The relative weight of the attributes is based on feedback from the stakeholders and they determined that seismic safety, constructability and multi-modal impacts (meaning future light rail) were the top three. The others taken together might comprise the same weight as the top three Izzo pointed out but these factors are put into a process that looks at their weight, plus peformance to arrive at a number which is divided by the cost (comprised of the capital cost and life cycle cost) to arrive at a Value Index number comprised of the cost over time.

 

 

Beyond the attribute weighting the discussion turned to aspects of the attributes such as constructibility, equity, enviornmental, and more of the various alternatives from repair to replace.

Environmental issues each path might pose

How they measure impacts on equity for marginalized communities.

 

SDOT has identified between 42 and 60 potential funding sources for whatever choice is finally made from grants to loans to taxes to tolls, each with its own positives, negatives and likelihood of securing.

Also part of their calculations are impacts on business and the workforce in the region.

 

In the top three of the attributes being considered are Mobility impacts

 

 

Very high in the list of attributes to be considered was seismic safety

 

 

Just prior to the breakout sessions the risk assessments were discussed by Greg Izzo.