The Maple Leaf Community Council plans to monitor local road conditions on its Facebook page.
At 8:15 David Miller wrote:
All arterials in Maple Leaf are slick and covered with snow. SDOT is plowing our arterials, most recently southbound 15th Ave NE, but snowfall is largely erasing their work within 15-20 minutes. Side streets are in worse shape than yesterday. There are a number of pedestrians out and about, so please be especially careful out there.
Our 4:00p update. We’ll be doing any additional ones over at our Facebook page.
15th Ave NE looks very good in both directions. It is slippery where it meets Lake City Way, but is otherwise mostly bare and wet with slush in places from Lake City Way through to Northgate Way.
5th Ave NE is about where 15th was 3-4 hours ago. It’s pretty good northbound until about NE 88th then it gets pretty slushy. Soundbound is pretty slushy, but probably passable.
Roosevelt Way NE is still the worst of our three. It is good in patches, but gets pretty slippery — especially downhill northbound past about NE 95th. This would be out last choice for going N/S through the neighborhood.
Lake City Way is clear two lanes both directions between Northgate Way (incl. 24th Ave NE) and I-5.
NE 80th is still bad, particularly on the downhill slope towards 5th Ave NE. Our friends in Roosevelt tell us NE 75th and NE 65th are in good shape, so those and Northgate Way are probably your best E/W connectors for this isde of I-5.
Maple Leaf’s side streets are full of sledders and are still largely impassable except for properly-equipped vehicles (4x4s with low range capability, with studded tires, and with experienced snow drivers). On some of the flatter side streets in central/western Maple Leaf we see evidence of people digging their cars out and getting them moving by using chains, but this strategy is less workable for anyone who has to make it DOWN the hilly eastern-side streets.
Cliff Mass’s blog says we shouldn’t see any more snow, but the National Weather Service forecast shown on the WeatherChannel.com is still calling for more snow this evening (10pm), though just an inch or less. Temperatures overnight will remain below freezing, so this stuff will still be around in the morning.
We’ll have a brief update late tonight (10-11pm). We’ll do another one between 8am-9am tomorrow and play it by ear after that. We hope this has been useful!
Thanks, David. -Mike
Copying our 12:30p report here per request. We also have new 12:30p pictures up on the Facebook site.
David here for a 12:30pm roads report: SDOT has finally visited 5th NE, but only in the northbound lane. Southbound 5th Ave NE remains slick. Roosevelt is particularly nasty in both directions north of NE 80th all the way to Northgate Way. Roosevelt has seen no plowing we can detect, so it is in the worst shape of our three north/south arterials. 15th NE is very slushy, but improving both directions. Northbound 15th is probably better.
One lane each direction on Lake City Way is very slushy, but probably passable by most cars. The same is true for Northgate Way NE. One problem with both Lake City Way and Northgate Way is the median is piling up with snow and very slippery, making it difficult to turn and cross.
Side streets throughout Maple Leaf remain very treacherous, particularly on the hilly east side of the n’hood.
PLEASE NOTE: There are **lots** of sledders out there on nearly every street. This adds a particular challenge to trying to navigate by car. If you don’t have to be out in a car, please don’t bother. Sledders, please be safe.
Thanks David! I am signed up for the Facebook feed, so good to go there. Twitter, no.
@mer — We’ll be posting Twitter and Facebook all day. I’ll copy the main road stuff I do here per your request in light of today being SOPA Day.
My only request is you write yourself a Post-It note to visit both our Twitter and Facebook feeds and get signed up for them.
Our update from 10am…
David here again: Conditions are meaningfully WORSE at the 10am hour. Since the last update, nearly an inch of new snow has fallen and now even our arterials are becoming impassable. 15th NE appears to be the only street in the neighborhood being plowed (northbound within the last 30 minutes), though Lake City Way and Northgate Way are getting some attention. NE 80th is particularly slick as is 5th NE. Snow on Roosevelt is starting to pile up. We spotted one bus moving on 15th NE, but lots of people all around the n’hood standing at stops. The few non 4×4 vehicles we saw were struggling for traction. 4x4s without a “4×4 low” option, studded tires, and talented drivers will also struggle to safely navigate our n’hood’s hills. Following SDOT’s and Metro’s advice to **stay home** is the best option. On a brighter note, at the 10am hour all three of our coffee shops were open!
Be sure to check out SDOT’s fabulous website: http://web1.seattle.gov/sdot/winterweathermap/ They keep getting better and better and keeping us informed – and at keeping our streets as clear and safe as possible.
@ Maple Leaf Community Council, please post on this page and not facebook.
Whether you agree or not, thousands of websites large and small will be blacked out today, Wednesday, in protest of the proposed SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act). Many of us who normally frequent Facebook are blacking out also. Thanks.