Brace for gridlock in Seattle this weekend with Taylor Swift and other events on tap
If you are traveling to Seattle this weekend, prepare for gridlock.
Several major events are taking place in the Emerald City on Saturday and Sunday, and traffic is predicted to be, uh, difficult.
“This weekend is going to be wild,” the Washington State Department of Transportation reported on its Instagram feed Friday. “Give yourself plenty of time to get where you’re going, and avoid single-occupancy cars if you can. Carpool, bike, take public transit.”
Consider:
▪ Taylor Swift is playing two sold-out shows at Lumen Field on Saturday and Sunday, with festivities expected there most of the day and into the night.
▪ The Seattle Mariners are playing two games across the street on Saturday and Sunday, with first pitches scheduled at 1:10 p.m. both days.
▪ The Capitol Hill Block Party runs Saturday (1 p.m. to midnight) and Sunday (1 p.m. to 10 p.m.).
▪ Bite of Seattle is taking place at Seattle Center both Saturday (10 a.m. to 9 p.m.) and Sunday (10 a.m. to 8 p.m.)
▪ The Seattle Storm basketball team has a home game at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday at 6 p.m.
What’s more, there will be closures of the state Route 520 bridge, which connects Seattle to Bellevue and the eastern suburbs, the WSDOT reported.
“Early warning: It’s not going to be pretty. In a nutshell, we’re closing parts of the SR 520 bridge across Lake Washington for two weekends in a row (July 14-17 and 21-24),” WSDOT reported on its website. “Moreover, we’re closing Montlake Boulevard, one of Seattle’s busiest streets, during that entire 10-day stretch.”
You can check transit options at the Sound Transit and King County Metro websites.
If you must go, we wish you godspeed.
This story was originally published July 21, 2023 at 3:33 PM.
