I was the first person on my bus this morning. As it pulled away from the stop, the driver called over his shoulder: "Route might be slow going today, all of the Northbound I-5 is shut down."
There was a multi-vehicle crash under the Washington State Convention Center. One vehicle was rolled over. Crews were working hastily to clear it, but, in the meantime, traffic on I-5 was at a standstill. But, that was the least of Seattle's transit woes this morning.
#DowntownSeattle: A multi-vehicle crash is blocking all lanes of NB I-5 under the WA State Convention Center (just south of Mercer St). Some vehicles are getting by on the right shoulder. Use alternate routes! pic.twitter.com/3HV6WsdtE8
— WSDOT Traffic (@wsdot_traffic) May 15, 2019
I-5 NB through downtown is a parking lot ... 😭😭😭 Hope everyone is ok 🙏 pic.twitter.com/0P0EwkSytT
— DeAnna Lee (@DeAnnaLeeDance) May 15, 2019
Light rail service was also interrupted this morning due to a power outage between Tukwila International Boulevard and Angle Lake stations. Sound Transit posted an announcement at 9:10 a.m. A text alert was sent out to riders subscribed to Sound Transit notifications at around 8:44 a.m. As my bus crawled past lines of cars opting to take side streets instead of I-5, my Twitter feed was filled with disgruntled transit-goers.
The University of Washington station, the northernmost end of the light rail line, was stuck trainless. With no trains going out of UW station, Capitol Hill southbound passengers were also stuck:
30/40 people at the UW Station waiting for the Link to show up, wasn’t rerouting all the busses out of the Westlake tunnel supposed to help them run more efficiently @kcmetrobus?
— 👁🗨 NIKOLI (@nikoli_) May 15, 2019
Sorry for the wait this morning. Link Light Rail does run more efficiently with buses out of the tunnel. There are other service issues this morning, here's a tweet from @Soundtransit, this might be the cause for delay. Check their page for more info. https://t.co/ti6SEgPEHd
— King County Metro 🚏🚌🚎⛴🚐 (@kcmetrobus) May 15, 2019
@SoundTransit is the train not running at UW Station today? pic.twitter.com/LUhx1V766O
— Rob McDaniel (@rob_mcdan) May 15, 2019
Talked to @soundtransit just now. Loss of train power between airport and Angle Lake, no cause stated yet. Trains are turning back to north at Tukwila switch. Customers as far as Capitol Hill have tweeted gripes about crowds and late trains, not sure if that's related.
— Mike Lindblom (@MikeLindblom) May 15, 2019
Passengers at the UW station were able to board a train eventually, according to Stranger staffer Nikoli Shaver who was among the waiting passengers, he waited for 30 minutes. But, he said "there were enough disgruntled people that some people were probably waiting for longer." The power outage is still ongoing according to Sound Transit and Mike Limblom at the Seattle Times:
Two @soundtransit trains were stranded by the outage near Angle Lake Station — which caused less than normal 6-minute frequency throughout the line to UW, a spokesman says. Train power is still out near Angle Lake. https://t.co/bNAWik4Gx7
— Mike Lindblom (@MikeLindblom) May 15, 2019
The crash at I-5 was cleared at 9:49 a.m.
UPDATE: All lanes of NB I-5 are back open under the WA State Convention Center. University St on-ramp to NB I-5 will remain closed for WSP investigation. Continue to expect delays heading into downtown Seattle. It'll take awhile for this 5-mile backup to get moving again. pic.twitter.com/1fGneKlVpd
— WSDOT Traffic (@wsdot_traffic) May 15, 2019
Meanwhile, because you were all invested in my commute, I took the Capitol Hill streetcar for the first time and I had a great time!
