Washington State parks over crowding

[Tom_Barb]

Today As I returned to my Island, the traffic was horrible, traffic was at a stand still for 5 miles either side of the Deception Pass State Park, simply because the parking area for viewing the pass from the bridge was full and cars were stopped waiting for a car to leave the lot so they could turn in.
Normally my commute from Burlington to Oak Harbor is about 45 minutes, today, 2 hours.

Rant over .

[Tom_Barb]

myredracer wrote:


I'd rather drive back and forth through Deception Pass all day long than around Seattle on 405 just once..

Just don't do it on a sunny summer Sunday afternoon.

[n7bsn]

myredracer wrote:
...
I'd rather drive back and forth through Deception Pass all day long than around Seattle on 405 just once.

Maybe more folks have also been going to/from Port Townsend to avoid Seattle?
...

I dono about Seattle, we live on the west side of the sound and take that ferry any time we are north bound. Avoids the entire Edmonds/Everett/SmokeyPoint mess

Like we will heading for Langley over the long weekend in Sept

[myredracer]

For the past 5+ years we've been taking the ferry over to Port Townsend when heading south from BC to avoid the Seattle traffic. The Deception Pass bridge has never bothered me (with the TT in tow).

Couple of weeks ago we needed to stop in Woodland (near the WA/OR border) before heading out to the WA coast and decided to take the 405 "detour" around the east side of Seattle instead. Big mistake. Used to be much faster and easier than driving through Seattle but it was a total nightmare drive despite being a Thursday, esp. with the TT. Towing around San Francisco is much easier in comparison IMO...

I'd rather drive back and forth through Deception Pass all day long than around Seattle on 405 just once.

Maybe more folks have also been going to/from Port Townsend to avoid Seattle?

Yes, the traffic through Bellingham has been getting bad and it's not a very big city.

[SH]

larry barnhart wrote:

SH wrote:
We have definitely noticed a huge increase in traffic on I5 even in our local Bellingham area. Took the wife to SCCA last Wednesday and took 3 hours to do the 90 miles. Stop and go from Smokey Point until Mercer Street. Coming home was not much better.

For the first summer ever, our local Private Parks are booked up and reservations difficult to get. We quit looking at State Parks years ago as our current working lifestyle doesn't allow us to book a year in advance.

Camping is much more challenging now but we still manage a few weekends each year! Wonder what it will be like when we finally do retire?

I can give you a heads up. go south for 6 months and after a few years of doing this ya might want to stay home and get ready for the next 6 months. it is called old age.

chevman

Won't be long!

[larry_barnhart]

SH wrote:
We have definitely noticed a huge increase in traffic on I5 even in our local Bellingham area. Took the wife to SCCA last Wednesday and took 3 hours to do the 90 miles. Stop and go from Smokey Point until Mercer Street. Coming home was not much better.

For the first summer ever, our local Private Parks are booked up and reservations difficult to get. We quit looking at State Parks years ago as our current working lifestyle doesn't allow us to book a year in advance.

Camping is much more challenging now but we still manage a few weekends each year! Wonder what it will be like when we finally do retire?

I can give you a heads up. go south for 6 months and after a few years of doing this ya might want to stay home and get ready for the next 6 months. it is called old age.

chevman

[larry_barnhart]

SH wrote:
We have definitely noticed a huge increase in traffic on I5 even in our local Bellingham area. Took the wife to SCCA last Wednesday and took 3 hours to do the 90 miles. Stop and go from Smokey Point until Mercer Street. Coming home was not much better.

For the first summer ever, our local Private Parks are booked up and reservations difficult to get. We quit looking at State Parks years ago as our current working lifestyle doesn't allow us to book a year in advance.

Camping is much more challenging now but we still manage a few weekends each year! Wonder what it will be like when we finally do retire?

I can give you a heads up. go south for 6 months and after a few years of doing this ya might want to stay home and get ready for the next 6 months. it is called old age.

chevman

[SH]

We have definitely noticed a huge increase in traffic on I5 even in our local Bellingham area. Took the wife to SCCA last Wednesday and took 3 hours to do the 90 miles. Stop and go from Smokey Point until Mercer Street. Coming home was not much better.

For the first summer ever, our local Private Parks are booked up and reservations difficult to get. We quit looking at State Parks years ago as our current working lifestyle doesn't allow us to book a year in advance.

Camping is much more challenging now but we still manage a few weekends each year! Wonder what it will be like when we finally do retire?

[soren]

Eric&Lisa wrote:

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:
...Whidbey Island - new bridges would cost close to a billion dollars.

With all due respect, I believe that is inaccurate. The new bridge will cost $50-100 million dollars.

Endless environmental impact studies, lawsuits from the Sierra club and other 'Friends of' groups, buying off a local tribe because the ground is somehow sacred... That will cost $900-950 million dollars.

Not saying any of it is right or wrong. Just saying until we decide what our priorities are, the status quo will remain unchanged.

Yea, I would say you are right. PA. just finished two huge, river valley spanning bridges near me. IIRC, it was 156 million for the pair. Can't imagine what west coast priorities would do to that figure.

[n7bsn]

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:
...
US-2 should be four lanes all the way, and likely six lanes from Sultan to I-5
...

About 15 years back there was an effort by the Montana and ND congress-types to make US-2 four lanes from Duluth to Spokane.
Obviously it didn't make it.

[enblethen]

There was a plan many years ago to build a bridge from Camano to Whidbey. It would have been SR 532.

[BadgerMcAdams]

Tom/Barb wrote:
The problem in Deception park is that drivers will set in the highway and wait for a parking space at the viewing area. going south the drivers stop at the end of the bridge waiting to turn right into the parking lot, when it is full and there is no space for them. Going north the same thing happens drivers will set in the highway and wait until there is an opening in the parking lot. This backs up traffic for miles on a very busy road.
Yesterday the lot was so full cars could not back out of their parking spaces to leave, absolutely grid lock.

I would think that some of Washington State's Finest would be out there issuing Tickets to the Officer's Ball. Maybe they could start posting signs..."Stopping for non-emergency reasons will result in $1000 fines"

Yeah, I know, a pipe dream. But here in Phoenix it sure is nice to see DPS pulling people over in the HOV lane for driving without enough passengers...$400+ fine...Sadly, people still will try and beat the system.

[Eric_Lisa]

PawPaw_n_Gram wrote:
...Whidbey Island - new bridges would cost close to a billion dollars.

With all due respect, I believe that is inaccurate. The new bridge will cost $50-100 million dollars.

Endless environmental impact studies, lawsuits from the Sierra club and other 'Friends of' groups, buying off a local tribe because the ground is somehow sacred... That will cost $900-950 million dollars.

Not saying any of it is right or wrong. Just saying until we decide what our priorities are, the status quo will remain unchanged.

[covered_wagon]

Me having thoughts about selling rig. Becoming not worth it.

[Winnebago_Bob]

We live 8 miles from the bridge. This year is the worst we've ever seen. It is definitely caused by idiots on the bridge...

We're sitting in site 76 at the Pass right now. ??

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

I wouldn't call WA gas cheap. It's among the highest prices I've seen on our out-west trip this year.

I will agree the situation at Deception Pass is a mess. There are a lot of free parking spots along the road, but idiots sit blocking traffic waiting for an empty spot. The single tiny parking lot is really stupid. The county/ state needs to put police officers out there to make them keep the traffic moving.

Maybe the OP can make it an issue the next time the sheriff comes up for election.

Lucky for us, yesterday we were headed east on US-2 across Stevens Pass. I did comment to the wife about the westbound bumper to bumper traffic all the way from Monroe to Goldbar.

There needs to be some road building - but it is really expensive/ hard with the mountains, islands and rivers. They could spend $100 billion around Puget Sound and the Cascades and residents wouldn't notice much of an improvement.

US-2 should be four lanes all the way, and likely six lanes from Sultan to I-5

Whidbey Island - new bridges would cost close to a billion dollars.