Day One - Heed the Warnings!
Readers, we're supposedly in for a crazy seven days with the road work on I-90. Abysmal delays are expected all over the Eastside and Mercer Island. Let's call this week Buspocalypse!
Bring your Uno cards, fully charged electronics, Trader Joe's snack, and your neck pillows. Don't forget the picnic-size wine bottles. Your commute is going to be Hellish.
Only the truly awesome people will email me or comment on the busworthy Facebook page about their delays. Mega awesome people will share pics on Facebook. Chuck Norris-level badasses will send video.
You know who you are.
Anne, the faithful busworthy correspondent who will be stuck in Traffic at some point during Buspocalypse, found these predictions/warnings online on Sunday. Take Heed, Eastside commuters!
Basically, the steel plates on the road have been worn down and compromised, meaning they could come up and take tires out, causing crashes and mayhem like that insurance guy on TV. It's really only on one part of I-90 - over between Mercer Island and Bellevue Way Southeast. Traffic will be down to one lane.
According to the Seattle Times:
"...traffic backups could stretch more than 10 miles."
"King County Metro says it will not reroute any buses. It has warned riders that in addition to the 13 routes that cross the I-90 bridge, routes that use the 520 bridge and I-405 could face delays."
"Spokesman Jeff Switzer said Metro will do its best to have backup buses available should regular buses not make it back to the Eastside in time to pick up the next round of riders."
"WSDOT says the best times to travel will likely be before 7 a.m. and after 7 p.m. From there, travel times could multiply to as much as six times what they usually are. Traffic will likely improve from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. but still be heavier than usual."
Day One - A.M. Commute
I was so excited to hear about the chaos in the traffic. People fighting outside their cars, throwing their coffees on each other's windshields, and bus passengers climbing out the windows.
These are the reports I got from I-90 and 520 contributors and fans:
The 554 - Issaquah to Seattle "So far closing all but one lane on the I-90 floating bridge is still much better than Seahawks parade day, when I waited for a bus for half an hour and then stood for two hours when I did get on a bus. And when I get to Seattle today, I'm pretty sure I won't have to battle through 700,000 people or be used as a shield by a linebacker-sized guy who is trying to push his way forward through an unmoving mass of people. So that's also an improvement."
Yeah. Nothing. Really, there was no traffic on I-90.
The 214 - Issaquah to Seattle - "The commute was perfectly fine. I took an earlier bus. There was about a 1/2 mile of stop and go traffic around either side of I-405. While we had very little traffic on our route, the lines going to the 520 were starting to back up. I suppose the drivers thought it would be easier to go up there than to attempt I-90."
The 252 - Kingsgate to Downtown Seattle - "Nothing to report, there was no traffic."
The 255 - The Briiiiickyard to Downtown Seattle - "I just took the 255 across 520 and got to work about 10 minutes earlier than usual!"
Many people telecommuted, many stayed home, and I'm sure some people went on vacation to get out of town. Whatever the case, there was no impact to the earlier morning traffic coming in to town. Certainly not the Buspocalypse that was predicted.
Day One - P.M.
I only heard one account of the evening traffic going back to Issaquah, and it was all clear coming back around 3:30 p.m.
While I-90 was open, green lights all along, there was a minor accident in Issaquah that snarled traffic by the salmon hatchery. The mega awesome contributor sent pics! Yesss!
Car wreck pic - that's ugly!
That's really ugly!
Don't you wish you sent pics of bus happenings for me to post? It's fun. And it's free. You should.
Readers, stay tuned for tomorrow's Buspocalypse updates! We'll have a special guest in town to throw another wrench into the commute(s) - President Obama will be visiting. He always flies Air Force One into Boeing Field and from there he's going to Bellevue. He has to meet with Bill Gates to try and get a more affordable Student edition of Windows 8. I wonder if the motorcade will shut down traffic on I-90 completely?
