City of Seattle

Edward B. Murray, Mayor

Department of Transportation
Scott Kubly, Director

January 9, 2015

Dear West Seattle Transportation Coalition Members:

We apologize for the delay in responding to this letter. However, as you may be aware,
several of the issues you raised in your September 28 letter were evolving significantly
throughout the last three months of the year as the Mayor and Council deliberated over
the 2015-2016 budget and the Citys legislative agenda along with work to improve
SDOTs traffic management capabilities and new incident response protocols for SDOT,
SPD and other city departments. Additionally, Councilmember Rasmussen and the
Mayor have been working with SDOT to bring together West Seattle and Duwamish
stakeholders in 2015 to develop proposals that could address some of the issues you
raise in your letter. Before coming back to that process, wed like to directly address the
issues raised in your letter:
Vehicle Capacity from the West Seattle Bridge to SR-99
It is not the opinion of SDOT engineers that an additional lane could be added to the
existing West Seattle Bridge/SR 99 interchange, at least not without great cost. The
current interchange (which is a state owned facility) is only 19 ft. wide while state
standards require a minimum of 29 feet for two lanes. Building an adjoining structure to
add more capacity would be difficult and costly given the shape and radius of the
existing cloverleaf structure. Even if it were possible, such a project would cause
significant parcels of industrial land to be taken and existing buildings would have to be
removed. Most of the state and local resources leveraged over the last decade on these
corridors have been prioritized for reconstructing the Spokane Street Viaduct and
replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct, as well as enhancing transit service on the corridor.
While it may not be viable to add capacity at this particular interchange, there are other
options for reducing travel time through the RapidRide C corridor that show more
promise relative to cost. We now have staff exploring some options that could be
explored with you and the other stakeholders in the conversations with you and other
stakeholders the Mayor and Councilmember Rasmussen have asked us to convene later
this year.
West Seattle Peninsula Emergency Plans
SDOTs Emergency Management and Security Advisor, Lawrence Eichorn, attended your
December monthly meeting and was able to present an overview of the emergency
Seattle Municipal Tower
700 5th Avenue
Suite 3800
PO Box 34996
Seattle, Washington 98124-4996

Tel (206) 684-ROAD / (206) 684-5000

Fax: (206) 684-5180
Hearing Impaired use the Washington Relay Service (7-1-1)
www.seattle.gov/transportation

plans that are in place at the national, state, regional and city levels, including the 2011
Puget Sound Transportation Recovery Annex: Catastrophic Disaster Coordination Plan.
The Recovery Annex, together with the other plans cited by Eich, are the result of years
of planning and were created for exactly the reasons you cited in your letter. These
plans are all updated on a continuous cycle, in most cases with the involvement of the
kinds of stakeholders you identify in your letter.
Increase Access to Westbound Spokane St. Viaduct from SODO
There are obvious transit and mobility benefits that would come from a westbound
connection to the Spokane St. Viaduct from either 4th Avenue S. or the E-3 busway.
However, the cost would be considerable. Again, Director Kubly is asking SDOT staff to
review this and other options for improving travel time and improving transit reliability
through this corridor. We are also looking at whether future state or regional revenue
packages might provide a source of funding for determining feasibility and, ultimately,
constructing improvements. Again, we would like to explore these ideas further in
discussions with you and other West Seattle and maritime and industrial stakeholders
early this year.
Lander St. Overpass
The 2007 design studies for a Lander St. Overpass indicate a project cost of at least $150
million (in 2007 dollars). The high cost is driven by extremely poor soil conditions, the
need to avoid impacting major underground sewer infrastructure, a bridge structure with
adequate span to clear the railroad tracks and 1st Avenue before connecting to 4th
Avenue, along with the cost of mitigating significant impacts on existing businesses and
institutions within the project right-of-way. We do not believe the City could realistically
complete such an expensive project without partnerships with the Port, BNSF railroad
and state and federal governments. The City is currently working with the Port to seek a
substantial portion of the funding from the state as part of any future state
transportation revenue package.
Immediate Mitigation of Traffic Events
At the direction of Mayor Murray, SDOT and the Seattle Police Department (SPD) have
worked together to dramatically improve protocols that allow the two departments to
share information and reduce both the number and duration of incidents that choke off
traffic between West Seattle and the rest of the City. We believe that recent collisions
and investigations are already showing how these improved protocols are minimizing
traffic impacts on major arterials. One example of these improved protocols is SPDs
responses to incidents on the West Seattle Bridge during times of congestion that require
use of a tow truck. Councilmember Rasmussen worked with SPD to change their policy
regarding calling for tows more quickly when a disabled vehicle is impeding traffic and
causing congestion in the corridor.
Additionally, SDOTs new Traffic Operations Center is in place and now staffed 16 hours a
day 7 days a week and has staff on-call outside of these hours who can respond to
incidents remotely. We have protocols in place to work with responders to assist with
traffic management and more quickly and consistently notify the traveling public of
traffic impacts via our Traveler Information Map, Twitter, traditional news media and, in
many cases, deployment of Digital Messaging Signs and even temporary retiming of
traffic signals to improve flow. We are also working with the Coast Guard and Duwamish

industrial stakeholders to address challenges caused by openings of the lower bridge

during peak hours with little to no warning for the general public.
Next Steps
As mentioned earlier, Councilmember Rasmussen and the Mayor are working together to
convene stakeholders to discuss options for improving the redundancy and reliability of
connections across the Duwamish . We expect to involve West Seattle Transportation
Coalition representatives on a series of meetings that will start by spring of this year with
the goal of identifying the challenges and both the shorter and longer term solutions for
resolving them.
Thank you for reaching for the ongoing opportunity for dialogue and collaboration with
the West Seattle Transportation Coalition. If you have additional questions, please dont
hesitate to ask. We look forward to working with you, the Mayor and Councilmember
Rasmussen in the new year.

Sincerely,

Bill LaBorde
Chief Policy Advisor, Seattle Department of Transportation