Is that last lid before you get on the floating bridge the future permanent home of Nickelsville?

the only thing they were missing was a slow motion kiss at the end.

tiktok, you mean the last lid on the east side of the lake? That's so Medinans, Hunts and Yarrow Pointers have a pleasant Metro stop from which to pick up and drop off their domestic help.

If you mean the lid on the Seattle side, that's the future racing circuit for the annual Montlakers' Electric Car rally.

I like the fantasy of so few cars on the road.

Is that the Windows XP theme music?

@1 no, that's on the Eastside where the Bravern is located.

Needs more road rage.

I fast forwarded through five minutes of that garbage hoping to see the Michael Bay-esque explosions and fuel tankers launched in the air and all I saw was four or five Sunday drivers. What has happened to the Department of Transportation's special effects staff?

No ramp meters!!! Yayyyyy!!!! It's got my vote now.

This has been my daily commute M-F for the past 10 years.

One thing missing from that video, the critical ground level bus stop that is normally there just as you head into the 2nd lid (underpass). I dont see a simple ramp going to the mountlake overpass to pick up passengers. Normally riders walk down stairs to connect to the 540, 545, 255, 256, etc. The video basically removes that bus stop and ignores any connecting buses, which an obvious oversight.

Is this the plan that Mayor McGinn says we need to stop in order to put bike lanes and retrofit for light rail so we can have a SECOND light rail train to Bellevue?

I like the accuracy of the animation. It shows cars driving slowly in the left lane being passed by cars in the right lane. Just like real Seattle driving!

@10 that's because it's up at the overpass itself. Which you'd know if you'd been following the 520 design process.

And, yes, it was changed to meet 5 of the 7 design critiques that Mayor McGinn rightfully pushed for, just as the Billionaires Tunnel will either be killed or put up for a vote of the Seattle Citizens that have to pay for it.

Wait... where is the light rail? I demand trains.

VETO. On the west side, headed eastbound, it bottlenecks just past the final exit, with a fourth lane making its way into the three.

Just like Westbound does now.

And, with Seattle drivers not knowing how to merge, this is a big-ass fail. Have people not seen what happens at bottlenecks? Do you not LEARN?! Jesus H. Christ people, we need to avoid bottle necks at all costs. Because, this layout will back the hell up onto the ramps, and onto I-5 worse than it already does.

If you haven't witnessed the Overlake backup days, most of the time its due to people not knowing how to merge.

@13 That could be a separate, cheaper, bridge of its own when its ready for it 20 years down the road.

@12

Either the bus drives up to Moutlake blvd to pick up passengers, or those passengers walk down to 520 (like they do now) to connect with another bus going over the bridge. I see no option for either in this video. Riders who currently walk down the stairs to connect to the 255 or 545 will be forced to bus downtown to connect to those buses because they go from the DT Tunnel (convention center) straight to the freeway, with the very next stop at Mountlake blvd. The only other option is to force bus routes like the 255 to get to Mountlake through Capitol Hill, which add an extra 10-15 minutes to the commute.

Maybe im wrong. But if there is no onramp to pick up passengers on Mountlake and no stairwell for people to walk down to 520, we'll be going backwards in mass transit. Just how the DBT flat out ignored servicing 1st ave.

@10 I noticed the same problem. In the westbound direction, there is an exit ramp for buses to go up on the lid to pick up/drop off passengers, then they can get back onto 520 or continue on surface streets.

However, there is no ramp from portage bay for eastbound buses to do the same (they do have the ramp from the lid down to eastbound 520 after the lid, though). This is a major problem, since lots of folks use the Montlake Flyer stop to pick up buses from downtown seattle that are heading east.

I just sent email to WSDOT asking why the ramp is missing.

Mostly shown from the driver's point of view with traffic much lighter than it will ever be during daylight hours in real life. Background music glosses over how loud this thing will be. Does not show standing view of the bridge from any of the parks that the bridge will effectively destroy. Does not attempt to portray the sound of the freeway from places like Madison Park, or the sound of the additional traffic that will be going over the cut with the second drawbridge. Nor does it address the massive traffic problems that will be caused just by building the thing.

Basically, it's a big stinking pack of lies, and the shameless sycophants at WSDOT who produced that piece of shit should be lined up against a wall and shot, and their pensions donated to inner-city children with respiratory illnesses caused by fine particle air pollution.

@16, 17 one place to find info is here in Seattle Transit blog last spring. See discussion and link re "Montlake Flyer Stops":
http://seattletransitblog.com/2010/04/16…

All this misses the main problem: No lane for people using jet packs.

Hope they fix that in the final DEIS version.

Needs more cowbell!

Also, less perceived traffic because all those tax-hatin' cheapskates have to pony up the toll, yes?

that music does a great job of shreaking 'hope for the future of transportation' doesnt it?

light rail would be better running right down the middle.

wait, we arent we doing a tunnel there instead of replaceing the viaduct with a tunnel? then the viaduct could be replaced with hopefilled music instead.

@22 is correct. Due to corrosion, wave balancing and other impacts, light rail works best in the center lane(s). It is viable to run it double lane and merge into single lane for the "climb" portions off-bridge, due to run length.

While a tunnel is possible, it means we have to either dig a long trench and buffer the top - as well as provide dual independent air/exhaust/pump stations from both ends. This restricts ship usage and presumes accidents and other things never happen.

It could be done, but it's way more expensive. And harder to modify once in place. A floating pontoon structure as we have in the current plans allows for easy repair, and technically allows for expansion, as well as floating repair barges next to the structure for maintenance without taking the entire structure out of service - these can also be used for bypass during inner lane maintenance.

(all my comments pertain to the 520 bridge only - ignoring stupid tunnel comments in regards to the insane boondoggle Billionaires Tunnel since nobody in their right mind wants that)

I would have loved to be in on that last meeting where the consultants unveiled the 'visualization' and all the project managers and PR hacks got to choose from a selection of uplifting background music.

I'd been thinking lately, "With all this deep-bore tunnel news, we haven't been hearing anything about the 520 bridge replacement lately." I realize 520 is not quite as contentious an issue, but boy, we can't afford to take our eye off that ball.

Following on Kinison and Gloomy Gus's comments regarding the Montlake flyer stop...

To me the absolutely critical piece is ensuring that buses have an unimpeded path to the Husky Stadium light rail station. What's the point of having HOV lanes on the bridge if, the moment the buses leave the bridge, they get stuck in the same general-purpose traffic everyone else is in? So this second Montlake bridge needs to have an HOV lane and that lane needs to continue all the way to the light rail station. Does anyone know if this prioritization is happening?

And Gus, would the replacement for the Montlake flyer stop be an additional stop somewhere around Montlake and 24th?

(Forgive me if I've gotten some of these details wrong. It's easier to visualize how this works heading westbound from the Eastside.)

Cressona, Ben Schiendelman at STB said in December of last year he'd verified the stops would be at Montlake & Shelby where several routes stop already - see comments here:

http://seattletransitblog.com/2009/12/10…

@11 FTW! hahahaha, nice!

@14:

Drivers FROM Seattle know how to merge - using the "zipper technique" of maintaining sufficient space between cars to allow room for those merging in. It's the idiots who moved here from out-of-town who keep tailgating everyone and clogging up the works.