Ferry crash leads to traffic nightmare

CLINTON — An early morning ferry crash closed the Mukilteo ferry landing and caused delays for hundreds of travelers during the morning commute Friday. People leaving Whidbey Island from Clinton were delayed for hours after the ferry M/V Cathlamet struck the dock in Mukilteo.

CLINTON — An early morning ferry crash closed the Mukilteo ferry landing and caused delays for hundreds of travelers during the morning commute Friday.

People leaving Whidbey Island from Clinton were delayed for hours after the ferry M/V Cathlamet struck the dock in Mukilteo.

Operating with only one ferry, sailings on the route between Clinton and the mainland were halted before sailings were eventually resumed by late morning. Ferry traffic was later rerouted to Edmonds so emergency repairs could be made to the Mukilteo terminal.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

At 6 a.m., the M/V Cathlamet came into the Mukilteo terminal at an “excessive” rate of speed and ran into the terminal causing damage to the vessel and the dock, said Susan Harris-Huether, spokeswoman for Washington State Ferries.

After the Coast Guard checked the dock, the ferry reassumed service with one boat.

“We were out of service for about an hour,” Harris-Huether said.

However, that wasn’t the end of it. Just after 9:30 a.m., another portion of the wing wall broke from the dock and fell into the Mukilteo ferry slip.

When the M/V Cathlamet hit the landing hard on the Ivar’s restaurant side, it damaged a dolphin, the large group of pilings that guides the ferry into the slip.

Because of the impact of the hit the dolphin collapsed and blocked the slip.

At that point Washington State Ferries shut down the Mukilteo terminal for emergency repairs and sent all island-bound passengers away, Harris-Huether said.

The cause of the accident is unknown at this time.

Washington State Ferries is conducting an extensive investigation into the incident, in collaboration with the Coast Guard and the State Patrol, she said.

Once the news spread, curious onlookers and TV camera crews from Seattle swarmed the outdoor patio at Ivar’s to get a good look at the damage.

The ferry route was shifted to Clinton and Edmonds with one vessel, the

M/V Kitsap.

Harris-Huether said she didn’t know when service would return to normal, but a tug boat had to come and remove the debris from the slip.

Commuters sat waiting in their cars for hours. Some turned around after having already paid their ferry fare to make the long trip over Deception Pass to get off Whidbey Island.

While the incident caused long delays for commuters, most people took those delays in stride.

One commuter saw the delays and decided instead of stressing over the delay, he’d probably take some time for himself.

“If I don’t get on this ferry, it will be too late and will have to call it a beach day,” said Tom French. “These things happen and it is part of living on the island.”

But for others, the hold-up meant longer hours at work.

“Most of my stores are downtown Seattle, Burien and Normandy Park with my last drop in Morton,” said Jim Prickett, a driver for Interstate Deliver – Do it Best Hardware.

“I normally reach Morton at 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. and now it probably won’t be until 5:30, 6:30 or even 7:30 tonight. So it places a two- to four-hour delay on my deliveries,” he said.

“This is just one of those things that can happen. I have been driving for 20 years and sometimes there is nothing you can do about it,” Prickett said.

Bill Paulson, a Mukilteo business owner, was less understanding.

“This is ridiculous. I’d be to work by 8:30 if I would have caught the 8 a.m. ferry,” Paulson said. “Now I will be catching the 9:30 ferry, which will put me at work at 10 a.m.”

For Rod Zuehl, it was not so much the delay on the Clinton side, but the one that would be waiting for him on his return from the mainland.

“The delays may cascade into one another if they don’t have another boat coming home,” said Zuehl, a driver for Hanson Building Supply. “That is the problem.”

The longs waits were good news for local business owners.

Coffee-shop owner Shirley Wilson saw an increase in business Friday.

“This has increased my business tenfold today,” she said. “People are waiting on the dock for an hour at a time so they have lots of time when they normally have 15 minutes. They get to have breakfast and a cup of coffee while they wait. Once they come here, they are not quite so angry any more.”

Ferry officials said they hoped to have regular service back up in time for the afternoon rush hour.

“Passenger safety is our number one priority everyday,” said Traci Brewer-Rogstad, director of Marine Operations. “We are doing everything we can to return to safe and reliable service as soon as possible.”

“We understand this is a high traffic route and that a nice Friday afternoon will see many travelers headed to Whidbey Island and the Olympic Peninsula,” Brewer-Rogstad said. “We’re working hard to have full two-boat service on the Mukilteo-Clinton route up and running again this afternoon.”

Washington State Ferries also operated on one boat service on the Port Townsend-Keystone route while vessels were rerouted to provide replacement for the M/V Cathlamet.