On January 11, 2019, we’ll witness history with the Washington State Department of Transportation’s permanent closure of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. This is a major step toward realigning SR 99 to the new SR 99 tunnel. When the viaduct closes on January 11, SR 99 will be closed through downtown Seattle for three weeks, and travel patterns will change with traffic moving over to I-5, local downtown surface streets, and Alaskan Way. And over the next several years, large projects such as the Washington State Convention Center, light rail extensions, and the arena at Seattle Center, will further challenge our traffic flow. This is what the City is calling the “Seattle Squeeze.” For a three-week period from January 11 to early February, we expect even greater traffic impacts with the Viaduct gone and the SR 99 tunnel not yet open.
To support the Mayor’s and our City’s efforts to manage congestion downtown, and to help our customers avoid delays during peak travel times, SDCI is modifying our in-person office hours for all services at our Applicant Services Center (ASC).
All in-person services at the 20th Floor ASC will be available only on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 9:00 a.m.to 2:00 p.m. and Tuesday and Thursday 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Services affected by this change include in-person coaching, cashier, and microfilm services. Availability for services conducted through the Seattle Services Portal and by phone and email will not change.
We are exploring ways to leverage technology to connect with and serve our applicants and customers while the ASC is closed during the later afternoon hours. Once we have developed our options, we will provide more details in our next newsletter and further communications. Stay tuned!
We expect to resume normal business hours on Monday, February 4, 2019.