President Biden (and a whole lot of traffic snarls) arrives in Puget Sound today
President Joe Biden wings his way to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Friday afternoon for a weekend of fundraising events. As with any presidential visit, expect traffic snarls when his motorcade takes to Puget Sound’s roads through Sunday.
Biden’s visit isn’t the only reason to plan plenty of travel time to and around Seattle this weekend. Sports, concerts and road construction will add to the headaches.
Biden spent Thursday night in the San Francisco Bay Area. On Friday, Air Force One will touch down at Sea-Tac sometime after 5 p.m. The president’s schedule is unclear as he’s making no public appearances during his visit.
Chris Loftis, a Washington State Patrol spokesman, said the agency is prohibited from discussing security measures overseen by the U.S. Secret Service.
“By practice and policy, we cannot speak about the traffic impacts of presidential visits,” he told The News Tribune Thursday.
However, given the frequency of executive travel, the protocol is widely known. When a president’s motorcade travels on highways, all traffic is shut down. Freeway entry and exit ramps are closed in advance of the lengthy motorcade and not reopened until the motorcade has passed. This, naturally, can cause traffic delays for the traveling public.
Biden is scheduled to depart Sea-Tac Saturday afternoon sometime after 1 p.m.
If you’re flying in or out of Sea-Tac during Air Force One’s arrival and departure, expect some short flight delays. All commercial air traffic is normally stopped while the Boeing 747 arrives and parks and when it departs.
Other traffic issues
The summer road construction season has already started and Seattle is going to see some of its impacts this weekend.
Aisha Dayal, a state Department of Transportation spokesperson, had limited information on the presidential visit but said the traveling public can expect closures and extra congestion.
“Leave extra time, expect delays, just from closures, events, extra traffic on the roadways,” Dayal said Thursday.
The Mariners have games on both Friday and Saturday and singer Melanie Martinez is performing at Climate Pledge Arena Friday night.
In addition, state Route 520 will be completely closed over Lake Washington in both directions beginning 11 p.m. Friday and reopening at 5 a.m. Monday. There will also be lane closures on Interstate 90 near Mercer Island on Friday night and on Interstate 5 near Boeing Field Saturday night.
“We just want the public to plan ahead and expect extra traffic on the roadways and plan for delays,” Dayal said.
This story was originally published May 10, 2024 at 5:30 AM.
