April 2022

Concrete trucks on the West Seattle Bridge finally after lengthy delay
SDOT forecasts another month of specialized concrete pours and will provide a revised update on opening date

Information from Seattle Department of Transportation

Concrete trucks arrived early this morning on the West Seattle Bridge. The first pours are for new expansion joints as part of major maintenance work being done while the bridge is closed. 

Following the expansion joint concrete pours, we’ll then pour concrete inside the bridge for the improved post-tensioning system that will provide additional strength for the repaired bridge. These bridge repairs require 245 cubic yards – or about 30 truckloads of specialized concrete. Once the concrete structures are done, they’ll be capable of holding more than 20 million pounds of force for decades to come. 

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Update: Wind damaged poles next to 4th Ave South Bridge replaced; Power is back on

Update Tuesday 7:30am

The power poles that had been blown on to the 4th Ave South bridge during the windstorm on Monday have been replaced. Crews worked overnight to make repairs and restore power. Traffic on the bridge is now back open.

Update  10:00 pm

The power to the Costco store on 4th Ave South was still out around 10pm following the wind storm that blew through the area. Restoration was expected in the early morning hours of Tuesday.

Original Post

Powerful wind gusts blew over power poles near the 4th Ave South Bridge on Monday afternoon and power was knocked for the nearby Costco store and more than 7000 others extending down into Georgetown east to Lake Washington.

Traffic on the bridge was shut down. No known time of restoration has yet been announced.

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Death threats land a suspect in jail in a hurry

Information from Seattle Police Department

#2022-083332/Southwest Precinct/First Watch: 

On 04-04-2022 at 7:33am, officers responded to a convenience store located in the 9000 block of Delridge WY SW to a report of a subject threatening to kill the clerk.

Upon arrival officers moved to contact the subject outside the store who immediately made threats to kill the officer.

The subject was taken into custody without incident.

Probable Cause for felony harassment for the suspect was also developed for threats made to the store clerk.

The suspect was refused at the jail and transported to Harborview Medical Center.

While at HMC, the subject spat on the transporting officer. Suspect was booked into jail. On duty LT and Duty Captain were notified.

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FBI offering a $10,000 reward to help catch those pointing lasers at aircraft
incidents reported in SeaTac, South Park, Highland Park, White Center, Burien, Normandy Park, and Des Moines

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest, and conviction of the person(s) responsible for pointing lasers at aircraft around SeaTac airport.

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City LIght wants to create EV charging station on former substation land

Information from Seattle City Light

City Light is proposing to build a new EV charging station on the former substation property at 4118 Southwest Morgan Street with up to eight EV chargers in a new surface parking lot.  The property was formerly known as the Morgan Junction Substation. 

substation land

Vehicle access will be from Fauntleroy Way SW.

Click here to take the survey on the proposal

Anyone with an electric vehicle will be able to use the charging station. Drivers will need to pay a fee to charge. The fee is designed to pay for the electricity and the cost of building the station.

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Pat's View: How much bandwidth do you have?

By Patrick Robinson

The term bandwidth, taken from technology refers to the maximum rate of data transfer across a given path.

But in common parlance it means how much information you can take in, consider and use.

For some, reading a book on advanced particle physics, with multiple equations on every page is easy. Some people can absorb that depth of detail and deal with interruptions, add the noise of family life, and the business of day to day events and feel completely in control.

But I think those people are relatively rare.

So in the age of a cellphone in every hand, with immediate access to an increasingly vast array of information, news, entertainment, work communications and personal conversations how much bandwidth do you have?

In 2021 a survey on phone use showed that nearly half of the respondents spent five to six hours a day on their phones. That’s roughly a third of your waking hours per day.

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Windy night and morning in the forecast

The National Weather Service is forecasting that wind gusts up to 50 mph are possible in the early morning hours of April 4 in the greater Seattle area. If you have hanging plants, or other items that are subject to wind damage you are advised to secure or stow them away.

WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 2 AM TO 8 PM PDT MONDAY...

* WHAT...Southwest winds 25 to 35 mph with gusts up to 50 mph expected.

* WHERE...Southwest Interior, Everett and Vicinity, Tacoma Area, Hood Canal Area, Lower Chehalis Valley Area, Seattle and Vicinity and Bremerton and Vicinity.

* WHEN...From 2 AM to 8 PM PDT Monday.

* IMPACTS...Gusty winds could blow around unsecured objects. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Use extra caution when driving, especially if operating a high profile vehicle. Secure outdoor objects.

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