Seattle weekend traffic: March your heart out

Another weekend, another whole list of things that could disrupt getting around. Some of these events might be things you’re doing, too, like the Womxn’s March.

We’ve combed through the alerts and advisories from both the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to deliver transit-friendly solutions for your weekend outings.

Some of this weekend’s advisories—and transit-oriented alternate routes to events—are listed below.

Weekend events

Things are still pretty slow for the winter, but there is one big thing this week: The 2018 Women’s March is on Saturday. We have a whole guide prepared on that, including timing, street closures, and public transportation information.

Also on Saturday: The Comedy Get Down at Key Arena. Get to Key Arena directly using King County Metro routes 1, 2, 8, 32, or RapidRide D.

Starting Saturday and running all weekend, the Seattle Gift Show (basically a massive craft fair) is going on at the Washington State Convention Center. Your closest Link Light Rail Stop is going to be Westlake Station, and at least for now—until the Convention Center expansion takes over—multiple buses run through the Convention Station, including Metro routes 41 74, 101, 102, 150, and 255, plus Sound Transit 550. Outside the tunnel, westbound 7, 10, 43, 47, 49, and 150 take you a block away from the Convention Center.

Another march happening this weekend: an Ethiopian Orthodox march in South Seattle to celebrate Epiphany. That starts at 10:30 a.m. at Kings Hall in Mount Baker—right by the Mount Baker light rail station—and heads to St. Michael Church in in the Rainier Valley, right by the Othello station, via MLK Jr. Way.

Road work and bus service changes

Buses are rerouted off Fourth Avenue and Pine Street—both streets, not just the intersection—downtown on Saturday starting around noon for the Women’s March. For Metro, that affects the 27, 28, 40, 47, 49, 60, 62, and the 70, plus the C Line and E Line. For Sound Transit, the 512, 522, 545, 554, 577, 578, and 594 will all experience changes.

As work continues on East Link light rail, I-90 is still experiencing closures near Bellevue. On Saturday, Sound Transit’s contractor plans to close all ramps from I-90 to Bellevue Way Southeast starting 5:30 a.m. Saturday through Sunday at 9 p.m.

Saturday morning between Seattle and Bellevue is going to be a little mucky in general: State Route 520 will be down to one lane westbound in the wee hours, from 4 a.m. to 4 a.m.

Note: We put immediate and new closures in this section, but not every single planned street closure appears here. Explore all 96 active SDOT projects, many of which involve street and lane closures, here.

Sports

University of Washington and Washington State University’s women’s basketball teams are going head-to-head at Alaska Airlines Arena at 1 p.m. on Sunday. That’s right by Husky Stadium; Link Light Rail goes right there, plus the 44, 45, and 73.