The southbound right hand lane of the Aurora Bridge will be closed on Wednesday, March 10, from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.  The closure is to allow Seattle Department of Transportation bridge crews to complete repairs on the underside of the bridge. 

The right hand, southbound lane of the Aurora Bridge will be closed on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (February 22-24) of this week.  Seattle Department of Transportation says the lane will be closed from 9 a.m. to noon each of those days so crews can repair the exterior surface of a bridge column.

The Seattle Department of Transportation is making repairs to several area bridges this week.  This Wednesday, January 20, crews will be doing maintenance work on the Fremont Bridge from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.  The northbound, right curb lane will be closed during that time.  In Ballard, crews will be completing guard rail repairs on the Ballard Bridge on January 20-22 and January 25-26.  The southbound, right lane will be closed from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on each of those days.  

Updated 2:45 p.m.: A large water main broke along Leary Way this afternoon, slowing traffic through Fremont and spouting brown water and impacting pressure for many Ballard residents.

Seattle Public Utilities says the break is under Leary Way and 39th St. (above). Crews have dug into the street to fix the break.

Public Utilities told us there’s no estimated time to fix it, and one Ballard resident says they told her it will take a few hours, then a bit longer to flush out the brown water. If you’re seeing brown water, they recommend you avoid running hot water to minimize filling the hot water tank with turbid water. If you are washing clothes, it is better to stop the cycle while it is full and wait until clean water is available to finish. More information about brown water here.

Traffic along Leary Way is diverted down to one lane in each direction. At last check, traffic was backed up a couple blocks in both directions. (Thanks Karen and Jen for the tips!)

Update at 9 p.m.: Police have made an arrest, and the standoff is over.

Earlier: On the western edge of Fremont, a large police response along with a SWAT team are serving a warrant, closing traffic in the area.

It all began earlier this evening at 8th and Leary, and the standoff is stretching into the night. My Ballard is posting updates on the story here.

A memorial procession for fallen Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton will be held tomorrow, November 6.  Approximately 1,000 to 1,500 cars are expected to leave the University of Washington at 9:00 a.m. and proceed along city streets to a service at Key Arena.  During the procession, traffic will not be allowed on the route nor will they be allowed to cross it.  The procession is expected to last from 9:00 a.m. to noon.  During that time, the SDOT says to expect severe traffic detours and congestion.  Our news partner, The Seattle Times, has additional details and has outlined a map here. 

The Seattle Police Department has also released this photo in connection with the shooting death of Officer Brenton. 

They are looking for a Datsun B210 car similar to this one shown in an online car advertisement. The vehicle may be connected with Saturday’s shooting.

Contact Seattle Police at 206-233-5000 if you have any information regarding this case.  You can also give an anonymous tip to Crime Stoppers at 206-343-2020 or via text message by texting TIP486 with a message, then sending that to 274637 (CRIMES).

Trolloween, the yearly event that celebrates the birth of the Fremont Troll, is expected to bring out hundreds of performers and people on Halloween night (that’s tomorrow!)  This is a photo of what last year’s celebration looked like.  (Thanks to Marcus for the picture.)

This year marks the Troll’s 20th birthday, and in celebration of the day, this year’s theme will be Dante’s Inferno.  Rain or not, everyone is invited to join in the merriment through Fremont that begins at the Troll at 7:00 p.m.  Following the procession, there will be an aerial dance performance of Daedalus by the Cabiri.  If it’s raining, the show will take place under the Fremont Bridge.  If not, they’ll be in the lot across from Theo Chocolate.

Seattle Police Department will be escorting this year’s parade, which starts under the Aurora Bridge at the Troll (N. 36th St. and Troll Ave N.)  From there, the route looks like this:

The “Haunt of Fremont” heads west on 36^th to Evanston Avenue N; south on Evanston to N 35^th Street; west on 35^th to First Avenue NW; south on First Ave NW to N Canal Street (which is closed from First Ave NW to Phinney Avenue N for a performance of Dante’s Inferno); east on Canal to N 34^th Street; east on 34^th to Evanston; south on Evanston to private street; east on private street to the Fremont Bridge.

These streets will be closed on Saturday for Trolloween:

• 3:00-10:00 p.m. - N. Canal St. between 1st Ave NW and Phinney Ave N.
• 4:30-8:00 p.m. - N. 36th St. adjacent to the Troll between Linden Ave N. and Whitman Ave N.

For more information, you can visit the Trolloween Facebook page here.

The Aurora Bridge will be down to one lane in each direction on Sunday night as SDOT crews makes repairs on expansion joints. Then next week, two lanes will be open in each direction from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (the inside lanes will be closed) as maintenance crews work.

Updated: Despite daunting traffic warnings, a big barge carrying construction materials for the I-90 bridge project only briefly closed the Fremont Bridge when it passed underneath on Friday evening.

The barge, seen here heading down the Ship Canal from the Ballard Bridge to Fremont, was carrying two 65-ton steel joints and a crane.

The new traffic light on N 46th St. at Aurora Ave. is now in operation.  

SDOT installed the light after noticing the steady increase of traffic jams in the intersection due in large part to westbound traffic that stacks up on 46th waiting to turn left on Aurora. There’s also that dangerous crosswalk on the Aurora on-ramp (where we’ve seen a couple of close calls.) With the addition, there are now three traffic lights within a thousand feet of each other, but SDOT says they’ve coordinated timing across all three.

With the demise of the Elliott Bay fireworks show, Fremont and Wallingford are expecting record crowds this 4th of July for the Chase Family Fourth at Gas Works Park. Today, Seattle Police released its traffic plan for Wallingford which strictly limits traffic to “residents and others with legitimate business in the community” beginning at noon on the 4th. Police officers will be assigned to screen vehicles at numerous streets, roughly from Stone Way to Corliss Ave., and from 34th to 39th (full list here). “Residents that are expecting guests should provide their guests with an invitation showing the address they are going to,” Seattle Police explains. At 6 p.m., the lockdown zone expands out a block, and access will be controlled at Stone Way on the west and 40th Street on the north. In short, if you’re not planning to attend the fireworks show, you should make every attempt to avoid the area.

SDOT’s bridge maintenance crews plan to close lanes and sidewalks on the Fremont Bridge while they replace traffic gates over the next few days. In each case, pedestrians and bicycles will be detoured to the sidewalk on the opposite side of the bridge. The closure schedule:

May 27, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. - Northbound right lane and eastern sidewalk
May 28, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. - Southbound right lane and western sidewalk
June 2, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. - Northbound right lane and eastern sidewalk
June 3, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. - Southbound right lane and western sidewalk

The City of Seattle plans to remove one lane of traffic each way on Nickerson St. to make it safer and improve pedestrian access and bicycle usage.

The changes will be on Nickerson between the Ballard Bridge and W. Etruria Street, just a couple blocks from the Fremont Bridge. The lanes will be replaced with a center turn lane and a new westbound bicycle lane, leaving one lane of traffic in each direction. Magnolia Voice has more details and illustrations.

The lane lines on the Aurora Bridge that disappeared during the snowstorm, creating some confusion, are being re-painted today (Wednesday).

Seattle Department of Transportation crews are closing one lane in the northbound direction this morning and will move to the southbound lanes later on. Crews plan to be off the roadway by 3 p.m. in time for the afternoon commute. Drivers are asked to not drive over the wet paint.

We read in comments recently (our apologies, we don’t remember who posted it) that the snow plows and sanders had inadvertently eliminated a lane from the Aurora Bridge. Today, we drove over the bridge and snapped a photo:

Going in either direction, the reflectors and lines separating the second and third lanes have vanished. We found some drivers were swerving a bit, confused if there were really three lanes or two. (Reminds us of that Seinfeld episode when Kramer adopted a stretch of roadway and converted it into wide lanes, throwing traffic into chaos.) The same thing happened on the West Seattle Bridge. SDOT says it’s a priority to replace the reflectors and paint, so stay tuned.

Updated: At 2:30 this morning, a speeding car hit the median on Highway 99 just south of the Aurora bridge, ripping the car into two and killing the driver. All southbound lanes of 99 were closed until around 7:15 a.m.