As the city prepares for the coming Alaskan Way Viaduct closure (aka Viadoom), there will be some changes felt in Ballard.
To ease traffic flowing south over the Ballard Bridge to Interbay, the bridges will forbid deck openings for an extra hour for both the morning and evening commutes. That means there will be no openings between 7am and 10am, and from 3:30pm to 7pm, seven days a week, from Jan. 11 to Feb. 9. The Fremont and University Bridges will be on the same schedule.
Buses in and out of Ballard won’t experience detours, but commute times around the city are expected to double in some places during the full closure.
Once the tunnel opens, the route from Ballard to Highway 99 will be different: the southbound entrance will be at the Seattle Center, which means the likeliest route will be from 15th Ave W, to Elliott, and then Mercer. The highway entrance will be just past the Seattle Center, at 6th Ave. (See video below for more detail.)
According to the Seattle Times, currently 26,000 vehicles a day use Highway 99 ramps that will be eliminated. Half that traffic is expected to use waterfront routes, such as Alaskan Way. A bridge between surface Alaskan Way and Belltown is in the works to help traffic flow, which should open in 2021.
The persecution of Ballard continues…
Well that’s gonna SUCK. I sense some terrible choking along Mercer St.
lol as if Mercer isn’t completely $#$%-ed as it is!
The term “Mercer Mess” goes back to the ‘70s.
I hear people say that to make that omelet you need to first break a few eggs. Simon says ride the bus or a bike and do as I say, always.