How will you get around South Park tomorrow? | Transportation

Whether you drive, bus, bike or walk around South Park, your route will have to change after 7 p.m. tonight when the South Park Bridge is permanently closed. Here’s some information to help you get around.

If you’re driving….

Get ready for more traffic.

After hearing about the South Park Bridge closing some people living outside of the area have wondered, ‘What’s the big deal? Can't you just drive around?'

But traffic is already heavy in and around South Park, says Marilyn Young Skogland, program manager of the Duwamish Transportation Management Association, and this will only make it worse.

The South Park Bridge carries an average of 20,000 vehicles across the Duwamish River each day, including about 2800 freight trucks. That traffic will now flow onto alternative crossings.

After the bridge closes, heading north will mean taking the First Avenue South Bridge or following West Marginal Way to Spokane Street under the West Seattle Bridge.

Skogland says during peak periods the First Avenue South Bridge is often at max capacity already. And at Spokane Street, she expects viaduct construction will also cause delays.

If you want to head east, where Georgetown and Boeing Field lie, drivers will have to go as far north as the First Avenue South Bridge or south to Tukwila International Boulevard.

Lora Suggs, from the South Park Information and Resource Center, is prepared to take these routes, but she isn’t looking forward to it.

“Leaving that way is going to add time and distance (to my trip),” Suggs says. “It’s going to be a drag for all South Park residents.”

To help minimize traffic impacts, the county has been working with the city of Seattle and the state to optimize signal timing, add signage, electronic message boards and traffic cameras in addition to reconfiguring certain intersections to improve traffic flow. WSDOT also installed a traffic signal at the intersection of South Cloverdale Street and First Avenue South, which will improve traffic flow for vehicles entering the South Park neighborhood.

Seattle is also making transportation improvements in South Park to prepare for the bridge closure, including spot repair of several arterial streets (Holden St, 5th Ave, Kenyon St, and 8th Ave), new signage and sharrows for bicycle routes, and changes to intersections near the bridge.

Whether you live in, work in, or just visit South Park, you’ll want to check out King County’s traffic routing map showing driving routes around South Park and changes in intersection signals and pavement markings.

If you’re taking the bus….

You will still be able to get to your destination, but it’s going to take much longer.

The South Park and Georgetown communities rely heavily on public transportation. King County Metro Bus routes through these areas typically carry more than 1700 passengers across the bridge each day.

Since the bridge closure was announces, Metro has been working with community members to modify bus routes. Starting today, you can expect routes 60, 131 and 134 to take the First Avenue South Bridge to get to Georgetown, Beacon Hill, Downtown Seattle and Capitol Hill. The new routes will increase travel times, especially during the morning and afternoon peak commute hours.

Walking along South Cloverdale Street on Tuesday afternoon I talked to bus riders about the route changes. Despite signs posted by Metro and online information, many riders had no idea the stop they were waiting at wouldn’t exist in 24 hours.

Carlos Santos lives in White Center but works in South Park. When I asked him how he will get to work once the routes change he said “I really don’t know. It’s going to be a lot harder to get around.”

You can learn more about the route changes with these links:

Route 60 (White Center, South Park, Georgetown, Beacon Hill, Capitol Hill)

• View reroute map
• Sign up for Route 60 transit updates e-mail RSS

Route 131(Des Moines, Burien, South Park, Georgetown, Downtown Seattle)

• View reroute map
• Sign up to receive Route 131 transit updates e-mail RSS

Route 134 (Burien, South Park, Georgetown, Downtown Seattle)

• View reroute map
• Sign up to receive Route 134 transit updates e-mail RSS

Metro will closely monitor the reroutes and may adjust service in response to changing traffic conditions. Metro will also review the performance of the revised service and propose a permanent schedule for the three routes in 2011.

If you’re a bicyclist….

Your route east just got longer.

Living in SouthPark, Meredith Hall says she frequently rides her bike east to Georgetown or Beacon Hill using the South Park Bridge. It was, by far, the quickest route the neighboring communities. But now bicyclists, like drivers, will have to ride north using the First Avenue South Bridge or south using Tukwila International Blvd when heading east. Hall says she will probably start driving to Georgetown instead of biking.

“There are no easy options for bicyclists and walkers to go east,” said Skogland. “They are the hardest hit.”

It doesn’t seem that bicyclists heading into Downtown Seattle will be affected as much. Hall says she didn’t use the South Park Bridge to go Downtown before because the bridge ramps are steep and East Marginal Way is not safe for bicyclists. Instead, Hall has been using the First Avenue South Bridge or the West Seattle Bridge which she says are better for bicyclists.

Bicyclists should check out the newly revised Seattle Bike Map for help planning their commute.

If you’re walking….

You might notice more traffic on neighborhood streets. Suggs says she typically walks to work from her home on South Cloverdale Street to the office on 14th Avenue South. Now, she worries that drivers trying to get to West Marginal Way or First Avenue South will bring more traffic to Cloverdale, and make it more challenging to cross the street.

Walkers heading east will face the same challenge as bicyclists. There is no longer a direct route between South Park and Georgetown.  

However you commute, a new website created by King County - Getting Around South Park - can be helpful.

While some funding has been secured for a new South Park Bridge, the project has not been fully funded yet. Even after all funding is found, building the new bridge will take 2 to 3 years.