Stay away from Western Washington if you're headed to BC

For Bellingham, I90 to I405 to I5 makes sense, especially if you can avoid rushhour traffic. There are alternatives across the Cascades that bypass more of Seattle, but they aren't freeway.

It's easy to cross from I90 to US2 around Quincy. At the west end, US2 meets I5 in Everett, still within the greater metro area. Disregarding traffic issues, US2 probably adds an hour to the drive.

WA20 is a more scenic route, meeting I5 just north of the new bridge. But it probably adds a half day to drive (compared to I90).

Looks like Alaska boats leave Bellingham Friday and Saturday at 6pm.

If I were making that trip, I'd aim to camp at the Columbia River (Wanapum State Park). With a 2hr drive to I405 that would put me in the Seattle metro area midday, with plenty of time to get to Bellingham by early to mid afternoon.

Pauli we are going to Alaska. Bellingham to Haines.

Lanes on the bridge deck are now a foot narrower, at 11 feet. Because of this speed limit on the bridge is also reduced, from 60 mph to 40 mph. I think they might not want supersized cargo being dragged onto that bridge.

Islandman wrote:
Temporary bridging is now open as of 6am and carrying traffic north and south.

yaaayyyyyyy.....



Gary Haupt

Temporary bridging is now open as of 6am and carrying traffic north and south.

Which ferry? From I90/Seattle?

The temporary spans are in place, with decking. Remaining work is probably a layer of asphalt and striping.

Lanes on the temporary bridge are only 11 ft wide, so speed will be reduced.

Thanks for updates. We are heading that way before June 28 to catch ferry.

On the webcam it looks like they have rolled both temporary spans into place (more or less). There are additional pictures on the WSDOT flickr site.

Yesterday (Friday) afternoon traffic delays were up to an hour. There are also some special events in Burlington and Mt Vernon this weekend, adding to congestion. But my guess is that freeway traffic will be using the temporary bridge by next weekend.

Temporary bridging across the Skagit River to be completed this week which will open up lanes for I-5 traffic. Bridge lanes will be narrow, and speed reduced, but will improve the situation for north or south bound traffic.

We took the detour through town going north yesterday at about 2:30pm. Took us about an extra 30 minutes to do it. Just lots of bumper to bumper traffic. One mile backup to get off the highway.

The detour status page shows the current delay times and has traffic camera pictures updated every few minutes, also what are the average expected delays.

If you go north thru town, there are two left turn lanes to turn north. but then get into the left lane thru town as there is only one left turn lane to get to the road to go west back to the highway, and a number of cars were stuck in the right lane and had to go straight or hope someone would let them in.