South Puget Sound Traffic

[Quadrajet]

I'm planning on going to Portland this weekend but was hoping to avoid I5 till south of Olympia. I was thinking of taking the Ferry to Port Townsend then going down 101 to Olympia then getting on I5 to go south.
How's the traffic in that specific area in the 5pm to 7pm time frame.

The last time I went to Portland it seemed to take an eternity to get from just North of Tacoma to Olympia. I bet I wasn't in 5th for more than a mile and was in second and third most of the time.

Any advice from that region would be welcome.

[WillisE30]

You will probably spend more time driving around it all, plus 101 into Olympia gets clogged up with people as well.

[lylefk]

Yeah that sounds much longer than just dealing with i-5. The later you go the better, it's pretty cleared up by 7. Oh and don't be tempted to take 167, it runs parallel to i-5 for a while but it's just as bad.

[cramer]

You're going to waste more time just trying to avoid I-5 until Olympia. Just adjust your start time to avoid morning and evening rush hour traffic.

[Quadrajet]

Thanks for the advice guys. Since I'll be making the trip down on Thursday I hope to avoid the "gettin' out for the weekend" traffic. And did I hear correctly Seafair is this weekend, yet another good reason to leave Thursday evening.

I'll bag the 101 for now, maybe make a day trip of it, haven't driven that road in 10years or more.

Thanks Lyle for the advice on 167.

[Rennsport]

depending on where your coming from, hwy 18 can chop off alot of time.

[Quadrajet]

I'm leaving Whidbey Island, sometimes getting off the island is an excercise in extreme patience.

[TwoJ's]

I grew up in Puyallup and my friend had a lake house on Mayfield Lake in Mossyrock which is off of highway 12 slightly west of Morton. We used to drive out Meridian (161) to Enumclaw, then head to Elbe and from Elbe go to Morton and get on HW 12. 12 west will take you directly to I5 and you'll be roughly half way to Portland. It really is a beautiful drive all the way out there.

But if this is on the weekend, why not just take 5?

[DrJosh]

skip 167. No joke. Its 10 minutes from my house and I even skip it. That road blows. If you want to skip seattle I5 traffic take 405. It wont take to much longer.

[Quadrajet]

It's not so much the Seattle traffic that bums me out. It's how once you get past Wild Waves it slows into Tacoma. Then I get back up to 5th for a little while then before Ft. Lewis it goes to crap again, and seems to hover above annoying till I get past Olympia.

I figure I'll leave the island around 5:30-6ish head to Mt Vernon then south on 5. Which is my usual route. Friends from work mentioned that the ferry to Port Townsend is on a make a reservation mode as well. Knowin' my luck I'll be last on the boat and have to follow either an RV or folks who can't corner.