All southbound lanes of Interstate 5 through downtown Seattle were closed earlier this afternoon while the State Patrol investigated an accident involving a tractor-trailer and several other vehicles at 1:54 p.m near the Mercer Street exit. We're advising people to avoid I-5 right now," said Lauren Penning, spokeswoman for the Washington Department of Transportation. You might want to avoid it for the rest of the afternoon time:HIGHEST IMPACT I-5 N - Accident, Right Center Lane......

Photo by Cynthia ParkSeattlest's cousin is among the 75 people trapped in Diablo, a City-Light owned town in the North Cascades. There's no danger--they are in contact with the outside world and if they need supplies, City Light will helicopter some it. But they'll probably first finish what they've got. My cousin reports via the irrepressible Tubes:It is snowing heavily right now. Three more feet are anticipated over the next 3 days. DOT says the......

After some letter-writing and phone calls to the mayor and city council members, vanishing Wallingford crossing flags have been resurrected. During their first appearance, our toddler found them magical. She had recently learned the power of the word “No,” so we anxiously latched onto and encouraged her enthusiam. We said hello and goodbye to the flags as we drove by. At bath time, we sang a song about the flags to the tune of “We......

The state DOT today said that one of the two choices on the March special "what to do with the viaduct" election isn't safe, effectively rendering the election pointless.Seattle's proposal for a reduced, four-lane Alaskan Way tunnel should be dropped from further consideration, because of "serious operational and safety problems found during our technical review," the State Department of Transportation said in a letter released this morning. Here's the letter [pdf]. The DOT's issue is......

The trains between Seattle and Tacoma are going to get faster over the next few years, at least in portions of South Tacoma. An improved track in that area has led Amtrak to new top speeds of 79 mph and other plans to ditch the scenic route that hugs the Sound will reduce conflicts with freight. From the News Tribune: Allowing up to 16 Amtrak trains per day through South Tacoma, Lakewood and DuPont is......

Poor Mayor Nickels. The news isn't good for him these days. His plan to replace the crumbling Viaduct with a Big Dig-style tunnel is going the same way as the Seattle Monorail Project he helped kill. The Washington State Department of Transportation released estimates that showed Nickels' $2.8 billion price tag climbing to $4.6 billion. And now, according to articles in The Seattle Times and The Seattle P-I, Nickels is taking the choice out of......

-"The Viaduct replacement tunnel will cost nearly a billion more than you thought," says Department of Transportation. "No it won't," replies the mayor. -Seattle City Councilman Richard Conlin has a new plan for the city's garbage. Actually, under the Zero Waste Strategy, there will be no garbage to get rid of. -Zillow made some changes to their site today, and now instead of Zillow telling you how much your house is worth, you tell......

Possibly we first saw this meme in a blog post, but the barely controlled chaos that is our newsreader makes calling it back up not feasible at this time. It caught our eye. Hey, that's smart, we thought, wish we'd thought of it. We're pretty sure the first time we saw someone tie the delays at the Sculputure Park to the striking concrete workers was in a blog post. Ninety percent certain. Then it appeared......

People in the Northwest might be more attuned to manifestations of the wrath of God than normal people. Volcanos, fault lines and the deceptively calm sea are all guns pointed at our head and sometimes it seems like the smallest slip-up on our part might activate the muscles in His holy trigger finger. Is this why we're so polite with one another? Smile, and maybe we can escape the cap of God for another......

Seattlest James isn't the only one with car trubs this week. Doug McDonald failed his eye exam thrice in a row and the State Department of Transportation says it just can't license drivers who can't see. This is fitting or ironic or hilarious because Doug McDonald is the Washington State Secretary of Transportation. Doug suffers from a diabetic condition that has been degrading his eyesight over the course of the last few years. From the......

Ever since Mayor Greg Nickels sent out a letter back in mid-February about Viaduct replacement financing, everyone who pays attention has been trying to figure out the math. We're all used to spin from City Hall, but there was a huge, crucial problem. In the letter, Nickels claimed that, "Today, with $3.2 billion already committed to the project, we have the resources needed to start building the tunnel." That was an interesting claim, because as......

At 2:30 p.m. today, March 13th, the Seattle City Council is holding a hearing with members of the Washington State Department of Transportation and the Seattle Department of Transportation concerning the controversial Alaskan Way Viaduct program. Grace Crunican and Bob Chandler of SDOT and Ron Paananen of WashDOT are expected to be questioned by council members about funding issues with regard to Team Nickels' increasingly questionable replacement choice for the earthquake damaged waterfront highway. The......

After a January in which it rained all but two days, it's a miracle that the city's roads haven't all washed away--let alone be absolutely riddled with potholes. But, for the most part, the Department of Transportation's Pothole Rangers have done a hell of a job keeping our axles from busting. In motoring aroung the city in the past month, we've seen some monster potholes, but they've always gotten filled within a day or two.......

Seattlest has let a day or two go by without yammering on about the Viaduct, and we're sorry. Luckily, there's new doings in the bass-ackwards transportation saga, reported in the Seattle Times: a bridge concept. Actually, Seattlest already came up with this idea months and months ago, after consuming a bottle of a "quaffable" Cotes du Rhone one evening and being thus reminded of the bridge they built over there that looks so appealing.......

Seattlest was suprised to find that the Seattle Pedestrian Advisory Board is seeking members from the unwashed masses. Their website indicates that six of the eleven slots will be filled by appointees from the mayor and the remaining five appointed by the City Council. One of those eleven slots is supposed to be a reserved for a young adult (19-29 yrs). Ok, appointed membership, that makes sense. We figured a couple of Nichols's nieces and......

The Spirit of Washington Dinner Train that goes from Renton to, well, Renton by way of the Columbia Winery in Woodinville is perilously close to having the track yanked from under it. Seattlest doesn't think that The Spirit of Washington Dinner Bus has quite the same ring, but if Ron Sims' plan of purchasing the 47 miles of track from Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway comes through the train might be out of business. King......

If you've ever overheard your officemate on the phone saying, "Well, honey, it's black and red at the bridge but then it goes down to yellow," you know that a) they're on the DOT website, b) you're glad you don't live or work across the lake, and c) "honey" is screwed. (The image here shows 520 with "black" conditions on the left and "green" on the right.) The Washington Department of Transportation can't control the......