Summary

Travelers in King County should prepare for snow Thursday night and possible disruptions for unincorporated roads and transit service. As weather conditions develop, the King County Department of Transportation provides several resources to help drivers, transit riders and commuters stay informed of the latest conditions.

Story

Metro, Road Services and Water Taxi are preparing for possible disruptions; weather and route information is available online

Travelers in King County should prepare for snow Thursday night and possible disruptions for unincorporated roads and transit service. As weather conditions develop, the King County Department of Transportation provides several resources to help drivers, transit riders and commuters stay informed of the latest conditions.

Currently, a National Weather Service Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for the greater Seattle area, with a forecast of 1-2 inches of snow potentially Thursday evening. Metro Transit will continue to monitor weather conditions overnight and into Thursday as they evolve -- crews are prepared to adjust service where needed.

In the event of snow, Metro may shift buses to snow routes and/or temporarily ground the 60-foot-long articulated electric trolleys due to their difficulty operating in snowy conditions. If those trolleys are grounded, some bus trips would be temporarily canceled in order to shift buses to serve some electric trolley routes. Some trips served by 60-foot electric trolley routes would also be canceled.

The King County Department of Transportation urges Metro customers

and water taxi riders, as well as people who travel unincorporated county roads, to monitor weather reports and connect to information available from King County, including travel alerts.

For weather and route information

• King County’s My Commute page is a resource for monitoring the status of roads, and information is available on the county roads’ snow response page.
• Metro Transit riders can review timetables and the transit adverse weather page for snow route information.
• Regional updates will be posted on the King County Emergency blog.

Department of Transportation divisions

Road Services crews are on rotation and available to sand and plow mapped snow routes. Call the 24/7 Roads Helpline to report road traffic safety issues in unincorporated King County, such as downed stop signs, malfunctioning signals or trees over the roadway. The 24/7 Helpline: 206-477-8100 or 1-800-527-6237 (1-800-KC-ROADS). The Snow and Ice page has more information.

Metro Transit supervisors are staffing the agency’s control center, actively monitoring the forecast and will respond to changing weather conditions in the event they affect roads across King County. Metro customers are urged to sign up for transit alerts and familiarize themselves with the planned snow route for their regular bus.

Water Taxi captains are monitoring wind conditions at three shoreside facilities as well as on the water, and communicating with Washington State Ferries at the Vashon Island ferry terminal.

Airport personnel will be monitoring airfield conditions during the period of cold temperatures.

Resources for travelers

• Sign up for Metro Transit Alerts (text, email, tweets via @kcmetrobus, see RSS feed via desktop or mobile RSS reader)
• Sign up for King County Road Alerts (text, email, tweets via @kcroads)
• Sign up for King County Water Taxi Alerts (text, email)
• Visit the King County My Commute page
• Visit the Eye on Your Metro Commute (blog during peak weekday commutes)

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