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Seattle weekend traffic and transit: I-5, Sounders, and Mariners

What’s blocking up traffic this weekend and how to ride transit to it (or around it)

Jose Luis Stephens/Shutterstock

Another weekend, another whole list of things that could disrupt getting around. Some of these events might be things you’re doing, too: The Mariners have a series at home, there’s Sounders game, and Childish Gambino is coming to town.

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: Concerts, walks, and runs

The Bite of Broadview neighborhood festival and carnival is at Christ the King Church Friday through Sunday. The 5 and the E Line will get you there.

Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., it’s the Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival at Center for Wooden Boats. Take the South Lake Union Streetcar or the C Line.

Saturday, Walk to End Alzheimer’s at Seattle Center runs along the circumference of the Seattle Center. Gathering starts at 8:30 a.m. and walking starts at 10. So many buses go to the Center,

Also Saturday, the Seattle AIDS Walk and Picnic is at Volunteer Park from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The walk goes around the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Take the 49 or the 10 to Volunteer Park.

Saturday night, Rezz is playing at Wamu Theater. Link Light Rail goes there (take\ the stadium or ID stop) or one of a myriad bus routes.

Sunday night, Childish Gambino plays Key Arena. Get there using Metro routes 1, 2, 8, 13, 32, or Rapidride D.

Sports: Mariners, Sounders, and Huskies

The Mariners have games at the Rangers all weekend long: 7:10 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 6:10 p.m. Saturday, and 12:10 p.m. Sunday. Link Light Rail will get you to the game—stadium station is best—or walk from the First Hill Streetcar or take one of a ton of bus routes from Metro, Community Transit, and Sound Transit.

The Sounders play the Rapids at Centurylink Field on Saturday at 1 p.m.; we’ve gone over the directions a few times, but in case you skimmed down here, Link Light Rail goes to the stadiums—the Stadium or International District stops are about the same for getting to Centurylink—or one of a ton of bus routes from Metro, Community Transit, and Sound Transit. The Sounder commuter train is also making special trips to this game.

UW Husky football plays BYU at 5:30 p.m. Saturday; take Link Light Rail straight there, or ride Metro routes 44, 45, 71, or 73. Metro also offers game day shuttles from the ‘burbs. There’s also a shuttle running around the University District.

Road work and bus service changes

Revive I-5 is still happening! A couple of northbound I-5 ramps will be closed this weekend:

  • The northbound I-5 offramp to the West Seattle Bridge/Columbian Way/Spokane Street will be closed from from 9 p.m. Friday through 5 p.m. Monday.
  • The northbound I-5 offramp to Seneca Street will be closed from 3 p.m. Saturday to 5 a.m. Monday.

The other direction has its own issue: Southbound I-5 will reduce to one lane between Spokane Street and the Corson Avenue from 10:30 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. Friday, then again from 8:30 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. Friday through Sunday.

In addition, the Ninth and Pike express ramp will be closed Sunday from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. for Convention Center work.

Throughout the weekend at various hours, SDOT is pouring foundations for signal poles at 23rd Avenue S and Rainier, prompting closures throughout the weekend: Rainier will be periodically reduced to one lane in both directions, and S Hill might be closed in either direction (with local access).

Friday and Saturday, 35th Avenue NE will be completely closed between 65th and 75th for paving.

Also Friday and Saturday, Rainier Square work will close some surrounding streets from 10 p.m. Friday to 4 p.m. Saturday: Fifth from University to Pike, Fourth from Seneca to Union, University from Third to Fifth, and Union from Fourth to Sixth.

Saturday, Seventh Avenue will be closed from Lenora to Blanchard from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. for a crane.

SDOT crews will be paving 10th Avenue between Roy and Aloha in Capitol Hill on Saturday and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., reducing the road to a single lane with flaggers alternating traffic direction.

Some construction-related bus reroutes:

  • Overnight Thursday and Friday, the 50 is getting rerouted off the Spokane Street ramp in both directions and will be missing a couple of stops on the Sodo Busway on its way to Othello.
  • Friday at 10 a.m. through Saturday at 4 p.m., a couple of Sound Transit buses are missing northbound stops on Fourth due to reroutes: The 522 at Union and the 545 at Pike. The 554 is getting rerouted but not missing stops.
  • Overnight—Friday at 8 p.m. through Saturday at 6 a.m.—the 8 is missing eastbound stops on Denny at Fairview and Stewart. It’s getting rerouted westbound, too, but not missing stops.
  • The 2 is missing its eastbound Eighth and Seneca stop Saturday at 7 a.m. through Sunday at 7 p.m.

Note: We put immediate and new closures in this section, but not every single planned street closure appears here. Explore all 93 active SDOT projects, many of which involve street and lane closures, here, and the city’s construction lookahead. Here are Sound Transit rider alerts; here are King County Metro rider alerts.

Volunteer Park

1247 15th Avenue East, , WA 98112 (206) 684-4075 Visit Website

Center for Wooden Boats

1010 Valley St, Seattle, WA 98109 Visit Website

Seattle Center

305 Harrison Street, , WA 98109 Visit Website

Capitol Hill

, , WA

CenturyLink Field

800 Occidental Avenue South, , WA 98134 Visit Website

Lake Union

, , WA