Newsletter Series Issue 2 - Getting Around Seattle

2. How To See Seattle
Seattle Transportation (what there is of it) and how to get around in Seattle (which you can't).  Ferries are big.

Getting around Seattle can be both a frustrating and a unique experience. Seattle's traffic congestion is one of the worst in the nation, annually ranking inside the top ten. Meanwhile, getting to and from the city can be done via a mode of transportation not often used nowadays, a ferry.

Part of Seattle's traffic problem is geography. The city is a narrow strip of land wedged between two large bodies of water, Lake Washington and Elliott Bay, which is part of Puget Sound. Seattle's hilly terrain doesn't help either. Basically there's just not many places city planners can place roads.

The majority of traffic flows north and south directly through the city on Interstate 5. Known colloquially as I-5, the freeway connects Seattle to cities in the south like Centralia, Kelso, Longview, Olympia, Tacoma, and Portland, Oregon. It connects Seattle to Bellingham and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to the north.

To travel east from the city, or to enter Seattle from the east, drivers can use one of three floating bridges: State Route 520's Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, Interstate 90's Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge and Third Lake Washington Bridge. Respectively, they are the first, second and fifth longest floating bridges in the world.

State Route 99, which runs north and south, carries over 110,000 vehicles a day. The half century old Alaskan . . . read this entire article and seven more just like it for free, just sign up now.