News from King County Department of Transportation
Release date:  Dec. 15, 2006 - 4 p.m.

King County afternoon transportation update

The King County Department of Transportation says steady progress is being made this afternoon to rebound from last night’s windstorm.  However, the department reports it will likely take several days for road clean up to be completed.  Disruptions in transit service may also linger through the weekend.

Despite the fact that some King County Metro Transit bases are still operating on emergency power, bus service levels are slowly improving.

The reopening of the Evergreen Bridge (State Route 520) was reopened early this afternoon, allowing Metro to drop reroutes and return to regular service in that corridor.

Trolley service in some neighborhoods around downtown Seattle is also slowly beginning to return. And several suburban bases (North, East, Bellevue, South) are attempting to operate at full service levels this afternoon.  Other bases, however, are still not able to run full schedules due to the lack of power availability for trolleys. Metro continues to do everything it can to restore as much service as possible as it works to rebound from the storm.

King County road crews are also making progress and slowly whittling away at the giant backlog of downed tree reports.  The division still has nearly 45 roads officially closed due to debris – a number that may well be a record number of closures for the Road Services Division.

While chainsaw toting crews have already removed numerous trees, those involving power lines must wait until power crews make repairs.

As we head toward the weekend, motorists are reminded to check road closure updates at the King County Road Alert Web site.  Transit customers should check Metro Online for updates.