Remember the traffic nightmare from the overturned fish truck on 99 this past Tuesday? All routes on the traffic maps were red. (See a Redditor’s map of Tuesday’s carmageddon to the right).
Same with last Friday’s NCAA tournament at Key Arena – red everywhere on the map around Queen Anne, SLU, and downtown. Well, get ready, here we go again.
Emerald City Comicon starts today and runs through the weekend. It’s a pretty big deal and draws 20,000 visitors each day to the Washington State Convention Center. There’s also a Professional Bull Riding event at Key Arena tonight (Friday) and tomorrow evening – 6,000 people attending each event.
For comparison, last week’s NCAA games drew 14,000 people per game and traffic was awful. Yet, somehow, the traffic overlords decided this weekend was a good weekend to have this slew of road closures:
March 27-March 30: Aurora Lane Closures between Valley & Highland
7pm Friday, March 27 to 5am Monday, March 30: northbound and southbound lane closures on Aurora between Valley and Highland
March 28-30: SR99 Viaduct closed for semi-annual inspection
10pm Friday, March 27 to 5am Monday: closed between the Battery St Tunnel and Valley St
Sunday, March 29: Closed between Spokane St and Battery St Tunnel
March 28-29: Fremont Bridge full closure
Midnight – 7am Saturday, March 28 and Sunday, March 29, bridge will be closed to traffic. Pedestrians and bicycles will be allowed 5 minute long crossing periods at 1:20am and 2:20am.
March 27-30: Westbound I-90 Detour
11pm Friday to 5am Monday, all westbound I-90 traffic between Bellevue Way and Rainier Ave S will be routed to the express lanes.
Get ready, the traffic will spill over into the neighborhood, and we’ll all essentially be trapped for the weekend (unless you want to fight the traffic). Pack your patience, and watch out for drivers trying to find their way through our streets as they avoid road closures and traffic backups.