Detours Announced for Xi Jinping’s Visit
Chinese President Xi Jinping (Wikimedia)
[UPDATE 5:00pm: Sound Transit and Community Transit published erroneous info. Their routes serving Olive Way will make their normal stops. The post below has been updated.]
Chinese President Xi Jinxing's historic visit to the Seattle area this week will come with more than its share of headaches for regional commuters. Security will be tight, and closures and reroutes will affect marginally more people than your typical Obama visit. Whereas Obama typically requires closures during active transit from Boeing Field to a fundraiser or occasional closures around the Westin, Xi's visit will close the entirety of a 9 square block area of central Downtown for 3 full days, from Tuesday through Thursday. In addition, Xi will visit Tacoma's Lincoln High School, Everett's Paine Field, and Microsoft's Redmond campus, scuttling travel regionwide . His schedule has not been announced for security reasons, but many arterial or freeway closures are likely to occur during peak hours.
So what does this mean for your commute? The usual advice applies: telework if you are so privileged, walk or bike if at all able, take Sounder (especially to/from Snohomish County), take Link or a tunnel bus if possible, and/or just avoid Downtown. Mixed-traffic surface transit will likely break down significantly.
Some of these changes will be moving targets, so stay tuned for updates or corrections.
Here are the details:
- General Restrictions: No through traffic will be permitted within the closure area, by any mode. Pedestrians with destinations within the secure area will be permitted, subject to additional security.
- Cars: No through traffic or parking permitted, but parking garage access will be allowed.
- Link Light Rail: Expected to operate normally, though tunnel operations will likely suffer as routes 41, 71, 72, 73, and 255 struggle to approach Convention Place via Stewart Street.
- SLU Streetcar: will continue to operate, but will run empty south of Denny. All passengers will be required to deboard at at Westlake/Denny.
- Monorail: expected to operate normally, though passengers may be subject to screening.
- Pronto: The station at 6th/Westlake will be closed.
Bus Detours!
Metro Routes
- Metro will detour 22 routes total
- Routes that use Stewart and 2nd Avenue:
- Southbound routes 177, 178, 190, 192, and 308 will use Stewart/8th/Lenora/2nd instead
- Normal northbound routing
- Also applies to late night trips on tunnel buses 41, 71, 72, 73, 106, and 150
- Routes that use Stewart and 3rd Avenue:
- Southbound routes 25, 66, 304, and northbound 355 will use Stewart/9th/Pine/3rd
- Normal northbound routing
- Route 70 will have a unique pathway, using Blanchard/8th/Virginia outbound, and Fairview/Boren/Pine inbound.
- Routes that use Stewart to 5th Avenue:
- Routes 64, 83, 252, 257, 268, 311, and ST 545 will use 9th Avenue, Convention Place, and Union Street
- Expect significant delays on all other Pike Street routes, including routes 10, 11, 43, 47, 49, 301, 308, 312, and 522. If you're traveling between Downtown and Capitol Hill, walking and biking are highly preferable.
- Routes that use Stewart and 2nd Avenue:
- Pierce County Sound Transit Routes:
- Routes 577, 578, 590, 592, 594, 595 will operate normally in the southbound direction. Northbound, they will not serve 6th/Olive, but will operate via 4th/Blanchard/9th/Howell.
- Community Transit and Snohomish County Sound Transit Routes
- AM Community Transit Routes 402, 405, 410, 415, 417, 422, 424 and PM Routes 412, 413, 416, 421, 425, and 435will operate via Stewart, 8th, Lenora, and 2nd.
AM Routes 412, 413, 416, 421, 425, 435 and PM Routes 402, 405, 410, 415, 417, 422, and 424 will operate normally
AM/Southbound ST Routes 510, 511, 512, 513 will use Convention Place, Union Street, and 5th. The first 4 inbound stops at Yale, 9th, 7th, and 5th will be skipped.
PM/Northbound ST Routes 510, 511, 512, 513 will operate normally
Closure Area, Lenora to Olive, 4th to 7th.
There are a number of ways to stay informed during what is sure to be an overall mess:
- Metro Alerts: Subscribe by email of text message here, or read them online here.
- Twitter: This would also be a good week to familiarize yourself with Twitter. Follow these accounts: