Drawbridges Inciting Boat Rage?

We can't be the only ones who don't find the rush hour drawbridge activity cute. Photo courtesy of NW Sunshine from the Seattlest Flickr Pool.

Unnecessary drawbridge interruptions during peak rush hours are increasing the likelihood of Seattle spawning a boat rage phenomenon. Boat rage is an aquatic twist on the standard--only in this soon-to-exist sense, the violence spans traditional, intra-modal boundaries, i.e., cars turning on boats.

Maybe we’re just psychotically impatient, but watching a single leisure craft casually cripple the 6:15 Thursday evening commute for every working stiff in the vicinity of Ballard, Fremont, and North Queen Anne brought evil visions of Molotov cocktails and burning Gilligans to our non-right-of-way automobiling minds.

From Ballard to the University Bridge we counted a whopping total of six options available in the entire city for north or south travel and that’s including I-5. With transportation options lacking to begin with, it makes almost no sense that marine traffic’s right of way is only limited for two hours twice daily. If high rent and limited job options weren’t making Seattle unlivable enough to begin with, our privileging leisure boat traffic over employed commuters surely is.

Federal law gives marine traffic the right of way, but in the middle of Seattle where traffic only seems to get worse (third worst in the nation according to wikitravel), the situation is screaming for reappraisal. Downtown laws tell us rush hour goes into effect from 6-9 a.m. and 3-6:30 p.m. and that we shouldn’t be caught on certain streets during that time unless we’re a bus. This is the case on Third Avenue. Why not at least stick to this broader definition of rush hour where it can actually help rush hour?

For "marine traffic" (aka a single leisure craft-owning retiree) to bring the commute to a grinding halt is nonsensical. The city claims the typical bridge raising on the canal is only "four minutes" but we all know that’s bullshit. Traffic is slowed in some cases for up to a mile while Gilligan putts smugly through.

If the city’s arcane right-of-way bias is not remedied we foresee all-out class warfare on the boaters. While the rest of our benefits, 401ks and retirement earnings are whittled down to the value of a domestic six pack, the city’s wealthy and leisurely unemployed get the royal treatment.

We weren’t there, but we’re pretty sure this was how the French Revolution started.

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By John in Miscellaneous on March 13, 2009 12:00 PM

Comments [rss]

eyli222

Okay, So I happen to live on a boat, and I am also frequently stopped behind a bridge waiting in my car for other boats to pass. Therefore I am at the end of both spectrums,

As a driver of a vehicle it is sometimes frustrating being forced to wait for the bridge to complete its lengthy cycle of rising and lowering,

but as a live-a-board I know that many of the people who are in the boats aren't just leisurely going by. They all have jobs too, and a lot of them are on the job when they need a bridge to open.

It is a set back a lot of the time, but the way things are set up is about as good as its going to get. If you think about it, both parties are at a disadvantage because if it weren't for the necesity of cars crossing the water, there wouldn't be a bridge, and the boats would'nt have to wait (just as long as you have to, by the way) to be able to go under a large obstacle which has been placed in their path.

I think that if this is as upsetting as many of you make it sound, then maybe you should move away from washington. I mean if you don't like being around boats and bridges, then you sure made a stupid move on living near them. Hell if enough of you move, then it's possible we won't traffice issues!

redwoodtree

It's great to see the front page story saying "Everything is changing" and lamenting a bunch of Seattle traditions, and then clicking over to see boat bashing.

Yeah, why don't we just pave the lake, it'll make room for cars.

I have nothing but negative expletives towards this post. I'm happy to wait for the bridge, it means someone below me is doing something that makes Seattle, Seattle.

If you don't like it, MOVE!

Audrey

No, what really "makes Seattle, Seattle" is the opinion that if you don't like something here, you should leave, instead of trying to improve your city. SO SICK OF THESE TYPES.

Mike D

But buses and any other form of north/south travel are still bound by the bridges.

Is leisure boat travel more important than people's daily lives?

seantesta

FYI, neither the city nor the state has the authority to make determinations about limiting marine activity. That rests with the Coast Guard. You have to petition them if you want to put restrictions on vessel rights of ways (of which bridges are)

John

Not sure how you measure the economic impact but I do know there are a helluva a lot more jobs inconvenienced by the current draw bridge rules than the vast minority of boat traffic that does benefit.

striatic

so marine vessels would be locked in lake union between 3:00pm and 6:30pm? three and a half hours is a pretty long time to lock down the lake, and not all the vessels that pass through are pleasure craft.

i suppose the long term solution is to reduce the importance of commuting by car through seattle.

jseattle

My friend is the most reasonable person I know. He's almost never irrational. But the drawbridges make him flip out. I think that says something. I get pissed at everything so no measure there.

herbisara

I used to work right next to the Fremont Bridge. Not only was traffic backed up almost EVERY night when I tried to get home, but listening to that bell dinging incessantly every time the bridge went up nearly drove me insane.