Stranded Buses on Broadway - Originally uploaded by mvbseattle

One thing is certain -- Seattle's next mayor (next results drop: 4:30 PM!) won't have the same old King County Metro snow plan to drag him down. Metro officials have unveiled two more components of an Emergency Service Route Network designed to show people that they did something keep buses moving this winter if our snowy, icy weather trends continue.

• The first is Metro's new emergency routes.

  Route 90 - Download PDF

  
  
  Here's what Seattle Transit Blog had to say about the plan:
  
  

  The 70 routes are basically a core set of Metro’s most important routes, minus some that are obviously impassable in severe weather.  However, there are interesting tidbits for armchair planners, like a new Route 90 that serves as Capitol Hill/First Hill/Downtown Circulator, and a modified Route 39 that is truncated to run between Seward Park and the two nearest light rail stations.

• The second component is a new alerts system that will post route updates on the Metro homepage and send updates on your bus routes to your e-mail or phone. You can sign up for the service here.

These initiatives plus the city's revamped snow plowing strategy -- check out which streets get cleared, which don't -- address a lot of the issues and ideas raised here when we went through a CHS groupthink on Metro's snow problems while the failures were still fresh in mind.

And, if all of this doesn't work, there's always checking in with your friends and sharing information.

This afternoon the city of Seattle released their new plan to cope with the big snow storms that probably won't happen this year.

They've put a new snow-knowledgeable man in charge of the storm response, hiring Monty Sedlak from Arapahoe County Colorado as the new Director of Street Maintenance. And they've decided to use more salt and less sand, better communication with citizens, and new technology such as GPS to track the department's trucks

The city has also released a new map that shows where they'll muster their snow removal forces. It divides things up into four categories:

• Level 1 (dark green on the map) streets get the most attention, with a commitment to keep them bare and wet at all times
• Level 2 (dark blue) streets are next, with a commitment to keep at least one lane bare and wet in each direction
• Level 3 (light green) streets will only get attention for curves, hills, and stopping zones
• All other streets, mostly non-arterials, will likely get minimal cleanup resources

Here's the old map:

In addition to the new granular planning for curves and trouble spots, you can see that the new additions are plowing Pike all the way to downtown, and clearing 15th Ave between Madison and John and Thomas between 15th and 23rd.

Seattle officials are getting a peek at the city's new local media landscape and they probably aren't liking what they see.

• From the Times, an investigation into just how botched the city's response to winter snow really was.
• From the Stranger, a tale of abuse of power at Seattle Fire.
• From the PI, SPD looking the other way when one of their own got rung up for DUI.

Maybe it's just coincidence. Maybe there's a new interest in how the city works -- and sometimes doesn't.

It's in the Times.

When you looked out the window and saw snow falling this morning, you probably said some variant of what we said.

"Snow? No!"

"No way!

Enjoy it, or don't, early because it's supposed to turn to rain. 35 degrees right now at CHS HQ with big white fluffy flakes that are starting to stick an hour into the proceedings. Meanwhile, Andrew weighs in with an interesting tip for forecasting our weather based on jet traffic over Capitol Hill.

UPDATE: Found this lovely picture of a snowy Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St Nicholas in Zinfandellen's Twitter feed.

This weekend addition to the CHS Flickr pool certainly sums it up. Thanks for sharing sweetwankle.

We recently discussed a few ideas to help Metro perform better in winter weather. Metro has taken some of the advice and rolled out some new communitcation tools just in time for this weekend's possible snow:

To get the latest Metro Transit messages on Twitter, go to: www.twitter.com/kcnews. The King County Alert blog is online at: www.kingcounty.gov/kcnews.

These two new features will be the latest tools in a growing list that Metro uses to provide service information. Also, depending on the magnitude of bus service disruption due to weather or other conditions, public information staff from other departments will join the Metro communication effort. Rapidly changing conditions may delay posting of route-specific service disruptions on Metro’s Web pages, but the new communication tools will help Metro and bus riders share information.

It's a good move to see. Now let's see if Metro can put these tools to good use.

Here are some of the comments you made during Metro Transit's latest snow day debacle:

o My bff just walked from north Broadway to Pine & 3rd along the 49's route and didn't see a single bus.
o We waited 25 mins for a 43 before giving up and driving at 8:15am.
o Yeah, the 49 never came this morning. I walked downtown from Broadway and Republican to catch a 70-series, and was amazed to see that the 43/8 bus stops and the 14 bus stops were packed with

King County just announced another public forum to dig into about Metro's snowy problems.

For the second time this winter, public transit throughout King County was brought to a standstill by snow. On February 26, Metro Transit passengers were left out in the cold, stranded by late bus service. The Metropolitan King County Council’s Physical Environment Committee, the panel responsible for Council oversight of Metro Transit, will be taking public testimony regarding the disruption in transit services:

Tuesday, March 10, 2009
9:30 a.m.
King County Council chambers
10th...

All one needs to do to measure Metro's success in getting out info about Thursday morning's blast of winter snow is review CHS comments:
o My bff just walked from north Broadway to Pine & 3rd along the 49's route and didn't see a single bus.
o We waited 25 mins for a 43 before giving up and driving at 8:15am.
o Yeah, the 49 never came this morning. I walked downtown from Broadway and Republican to catch a 70-series, and was amazed to see that the 43/8 bus stops and the 14 bus stops were packed with people who must have thought (as I did) that Metro would surely still be running with chilled slush. Ugh.

CHS, Metro says it's sorry and will do better next time... next year!

As the winter season winds to a close, Metro is already looking to next season by pursuing additional steps that can be taken to keep riders better informed of transit disruptions. Those actions include: redesigning elements of the Metro Online website; beefing up emergency event staffing plans for the Customer Information Office; adding...

There's a 2-inch coat of snow on Capitol Hill this morning -- including roads and sidewalks. We mark 32.5 F and steady on our digital here at HQ. Driving appears left to the chained though have watched a few intrepid Volvos make their way along the number streets. Hills, of course, only for the brave and the people who moved here in last 3 weeks. Bone chilling wind, to boot.

Buses - Metro is just starting to add routes to its Adverse Weather page. No Cap Hill entries, yet, but keep checking because not seeing a lot of evidence of vehicular activity out there. Did spot evidence that the 43 and 49 were on the move -- for now -- using the Metro bus tracker. UPDATE: jonglix reminds in comments: I haven't seen any evidence of delays or re-routes yet but be careful of relying on the bus-tracker sites. They use pre-programed routes not GPS so won't reflect any snow routes.

Some of you are old hands at this. Some of you spent the end of December in Oahu.

CHS winter weather links

• Metro adverse weather info
• National Weather Service Western WA weather discussion
• Cliff Mass weather blog
• Seattle public schools info
• Silver dollar pancakes recipe

Add more in the comments!

Feeling very Marty Stouffer this morning. Found these tracks in the alley near home. A surprisingly thorough coat of snow on the streets and sidewalks but, as alaskalainen points out, bus service and the morning commute went off pretty much hitch-free.

Seems like it might be time for PNW meteorologists to adjust their models -- supposedly we're due for a small amount of snow again Tuesday but, given recent performance, who knows. Maybe just ask BabushkaBlue.

In denial but the forecast cannot be ignored. Be ready for a snowy Tuesday morning.

TUESDAY...SNOW LIKELY IN THE MORNING...CHANGING TO RAIN IN THE AFTERNOON. SNOW ACCUMULATION OF UP TO 1 INCH. HIGHS IN THE UPPER 30S TO MID 40S. SOUTHWEST WIND 10 TO 20 MPH.

The forecast is yelling at me. (This post's existence ensures there will be no snow, only freezing drizzle.)

UPDATE 1/27/09 9:10AM
It snowed. End story.

Don't forget to tune into this morning's city council sessions -- here's the council's live video page.

Tuesday, January 6  at 9:30 a.m. - Joint Meeting of the Transportation and Environment, Emergency Management, and Utilities Committees:  Briefing and Discussion with Seattle Department of Transportation, Human Services Department, Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle City Light, Office of Emergency Management and King County Metro Transit.  Time will be available for public comment.

Let's see how today's session plays out -- still might be more useful to pull together some kind of Capitol Hill-focused opportunity for people to talk about what happened.

In the meantime, have your feelings about the city's -- and the Hill's -- preparedness for winter storms changed? I still don't own a snow shovel.

A massive pile of snow-laden branches knocked down both the north and south extensions of Metro bus cables last night near the 1200 block of 15th Ave E. As a result, Metro is currently not running the #10 bus east of Broadway. Keep track of status on the Metro adverse weather page.

Photo: MvB

Here we go again
Originally uploaded by ERIK98122

Clearly, this is just nature reminding you of Tuesday's city council session where they'll be discussing December's snow and ice craziness. If you're like many of the people living on Hill and can't make Tuesday morning's session, send an e-mail (click the council's little heads here to get their page with e-mail details and more) and tune in to watch online.

Update: 8:22p

A few pictures from my neck of the woods.

And a video of Broadway from cheesecake

Update 11:11p
Round-up from the comments:

o Report of tree down on bus wires along 15th Ave E at Volunteer Park. MvB on the scene says wires down for both north and south routes and that 15th Ave is CLOSED. Map

Photo: MvB

o City page with power outage listing and updates

o Power out in stretches across city so bring a few extra blankets and a flashlight to bed with you tonight. Sleep tight.

Asked earlier this week about worth of organizing a Capitol Hill community discussion to talk about -- and document -- the impact of December's snow and ice problems. Here's the Seattle City Council plan (pdf) for how they plan to postmortem the situation:

Monday, January 5 at 9:30 a.m. - Council Briefings: An overview from Office of Emergency Management and Seattle Department of Transportation on the Storm Response, including information from the Seattle Fire Department and Seattle Police Department.

Tuesday, January 6 at 9:30 a.m. - Joint Meeting of the Transportation and Environment, Emergency Management, and Utilities Committees: Briefing and Discussion with Seattle Department of Transportation, Human Services Department, Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle City Light, Office of Emergency Management and King County Metro Transit. Time will be available for public comment.

Monday, January 12 at 9:30 a.m. - Council Briefings: Identification of immediate steps that can be taken for improved storm response....

Stay alive! They will find you. Seattle Public Utilities is getting back into the trash pick-up game today. But they say they're going day by day to recover -- not trying to clean up the Hill in one sweep. So, if your regular garbage day is Monday, expect to see a truck today.

In northern towns where 6 inches of snow falling overnight is a regular occurrence, the spring thaw of icy rivers and crusted drifts is called "the break-up." It is mostly celebrated by people who live in these places -- the end of freezing cold, the start of warmer days. There is also an unease about it. Near rivers, giant ice drifts cause blockages and flooding. The retreat of the icy snow drifts reveals lost items, piles of trash and, worse, evidence of crimes and various misdeeds against nature and humanity.

Seattle, it seems, is going through a similar thaw. Where the snow was good fun and an unusual opportunity to play, it also overwhelmed many services -- and our streets and sidewalks. Today, we are left looking at the lost items, the trash and, worse, evidence of crimes and various misdeeds against nature and humanity.

There are many categories to discuss:

• The roads and sidewalks
• Snowplows, salt, sand
• Buses
• Services
• The mayor, the county exec, the governor, etc.
• Citizens
• Businesses
• Communication<...

Neighbor Marlow posted this charming holiday-themed video of Capitol Hill's own Millionaire's Row in the snow, writing:

Even though I have studded tires, I just stayed on foot most of our holiday snowstorm and walked between my house on 17th and my office on Olive Way.  One of the detours I took was on 14th Ave. E, between Prospect and Roy, down what's known as "Millionaire Row".

Thanks for the video, Marlow. While your view of the fluffy white Hill is charming indeed, we know not everybody has been as enthusiastic about the winter wonderland on Capitol Hill. To help keep the situation balanced, CHS produced this remix of your Millionaire's Row video. We call it Millionaire's Row Icy Horror!

A huge thank you to all the shovelers who were out working very hard today making the sidewalks safer: especially the guy at the SE corner of 18th Ave. E and E. John who shoveled the entire sidewalk on both streets - took him all day working with a regular shovel, and to Casey for shoveling the NW corner. Unsung and much appreciated heros!

This sums up my frustration over the last several days...

Seattle's snowy holiday has turned into icy living. Not so fun when you're trying to get on with things. Here's a selection of appropriately somber and chilly Hill images from the ice-coated CHS flickr pool.

From Sea-Tac Airport website (12/24/08): The Airport Parking Garage is currently full. Parking is also full in off-airport lots (map); even parkers with reservations are being turned away. If you have a reservation, call ahead to your lot.

(This worked well late late Monday night. Your mileage may vary).

Google map of the route.

1. Chain up at home
2. South on 23rd Avenue E. Slight but easy hill by Garfield. Route is bumpy packed ice. Continue south through CD.
3. Over I-90 lid. Right at light onto S. Massachusetts Street, just after African-American Museum. Down icy slope.
4. Right (north) onto Rainier Avenue.
5. Left (west) onto S. Dearborn Street.
6. Pull into Goodwill approach road to remove chains. Empty, icy well lit area.
7. Back onto Dearborn (going west) under I-5. Go (sadly) past Uwajimaya.
8. Left onto 4th Ave. S, past Seahawks Stadium
9. Right onto well-marked I-90/I-5 entrance ramp. Stay in right lane for entrance ramp to I-5 South.
10. Pick up your party at Sea-Tac. You should a) bring your own toilet paper b) admire the thousands of unclaimed...