(SDOT photos, Sunday night)
That’s what SDOT crews had to fix when they closed the Fauntleroy end of the eastbound West Seattle Bridge for more than two hours Sunday night. We reported on it in real time and promised to follow up to find out why the barrier fix – usually a relatively quick job – took so long, and SDOT spokesperson Ethan Bergerson sent this explanation with photos, today:
SDOT was notified by SPD at approximately 6:45 p.m. on Sunday, February 1 that a vehicle had hit the center concrete barrier on the Fauntleroy Way SW approach to the West Seattle Bridge. This collision moved the center concrete divider out of place.
An SDOT Response Team (SRT) vehicle attempted to push the barriers back into place, but two of the four concrete barrier sections became stuck and were unmovable. It was necessary to bring in heavy equipment from the SDOT maintenance yard, which finished pushing the barriers back into place at approximately 10:30 pm.
All eastbound lanes of Fauntleroy Way SW were closed for most of this time, with a short period when one lane was briefly reopened and then closed again.
The only crash on the SFD log for that time frame was 7 pm, listed as Fauntleroy/Avalon; one of the challenges for keeping stats on that end of the bridge – yes, it was by “the curve” – seems to be the various location descriptions.