Commuters sit, seek alternate routes ... or just go home

By bicycle, water taxi, even on foot, commuters tried their best to skirt a huge traffic jam after Thursday's fatal car crash on the West Seattle Bridge. Police shut the bridge down for eight hours as they investigated the early-morning accident, which killed three.

After her bus was stalled in traffic for three hours, Keiya Russell abandoned hope, hopped off about 9:30 and called her boss to say she was going home.

Mike Chenoweth, of Alki Beach, parked his car and skateboarded to his job, a short distance beyond the low-level bridge adjacent to the main bridge.

Ann Dawson, who boarded an early bus near the Fauntleroy ferry dock, got off at Avalon Way Southwest and set off on foot to her Capitol Hill destination, miles away.

A young mom, Erin Badgley, pushed her stroller through the noise and grit of South Spokane Street, after crossing the low bridge on foot with Madalyn, 5; Jaeline, 4; and Devlen, 2. They were headed for day care downtown, if they could catch a Metro bus at the Sodo busway.

Queues of cars snaked through the Delridge and Highland Park neighborhoods as drivers headed south, in hope of eventually cutting back into the city.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, himself a west-sider, missed his public appearance in Rainier Valley to promote the city's new red-light enforcement cameras.

City Councilman Tom Rasmussen got to the event — but he took the long way around, winding along Puget Sound via Beach Drive Southwest, through side streets of White Center, onto northbound Highway 509.

While there is a limited detour plan for the Alaskan Way Viaduct, there is little to help divert the 107,500 daily commuters who usually cross the West Seattle Bridge.

Metro Transit's Elliott Bay Water Taxi carried about 1,150 passengers by 1 p.m. — more than double the usual load for an entire day.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com