We’re in for a cold and icy Monday – not a bad day to snuggle your laptop and enjoy a warm caffeinated beverage. If you can’t do the work from Victrola/Vita/Vivace thing, here are a few handy bits of info to plan your trip. Me? I’d bus it so you can at least relax a little bit on the long commute (provided the bus isn’t packed to the gills). Thankfully, I work where I live. Now I just need to score one of the tables with a power outlet.
Bus or road issues? See something interesting on your commute? Send in a tip to [email protected] so we can spread the word.
- Commuting by bus will require patience but is probably the best way to go. You can see Metro’s latest adverse weather alerts here.
- Traffic cams and travel times also available, of course.
- If you must drive, stick to the city and state’s “primary routes” — dark teal and black in the map below. They’re the first and most sanded and snow-plowed roads. The dashed streets are low prio. No marks? Gonna have to sand on your own. You can see the complete area map here.
Solid lines, good
I was wondering which roads on the hill were cleared.
They really, really need to do something about Aloha. I walked to Volunteer on Sunday morning and the hill (you know what I’m talking about) was good for watching idiots without chains spin out. Why? WHYYYY?
Look at the east-west arterials, though. Why is John/Thomas between 15th and 23rd not a priority road? Union? If Cherry is our only hope then I’ll stay home. I saw local news footage of Cherry that was an insane mess. Cherry’s stupid.
The 43 & 48 buses were running this morning without a blink of an eye.
I think that John/Thomas between 15th & 23rd is a lower priority b/c it is full east facing and just steep enough to ensure fast runoff but not crazy aloha steep. Any morning sun at all and it warms up – also being heavily trafficked helps that too.
It’s the heavily shaded roads that are more problematic.
I see your point, but counter that there are areas of John/Thomas that are heavily shaded.
I’m surprised Pike and Pine aren’t high priority. Lotta buses there.
John/Thomas between 19th & 20th is steep and icy, and often the first challenge for people coming from the Eastside. We enjoy watching them flying up the hill, and then sliding sideways back down again.
The spectacle is normally terminated by a jack-knifed bendy trolley. Not this Sunday, probably because Metro was wisely using only diesel buses. I suspect they need to use the electric ones as well for a full weekday service, so stay tuned.
I soon found out why the #2 bus was 15 minutes late last night. Driver was using chains on the tires and creeping along at about 5 miles per hour. The shaking really rattles your teeth. She said she needed the chains for Madrona.