Tagged: Traffic Congestion

TUMWATER, Wash. — The Washington State Patrol says a semi-truck driver fell asleep and crashed into a state Transportation Department truck on Interstate 5 about 5:30 a.m. Thursday near Tumwater.

No one was in the state truck and the semi driver suffered only a scratch on an arm. Southbound lanes of the freeway are blocked and rush hour traffic is diverted on side roads.

The Department of Ecology was called to help clean up about 50 gallons of fuel that spilled from the semi-truck.

A 13-vehicle crash on I-90 in Bellevue during the morning rush hour has injured seven people, including one child in critical condition at a local hospital.

The Washington State Patrol says a woman who stopped her car along Interstate 5 and tried to corral a family of ducks and ducklings caused a multi-vehicle accident that disrupted southbound traffic for nearly three hours.

You can expect region-wide congestion this weekend, the state Department of Transportation says, because State Route 520 will be closed between Montlake Boulevard in Seattle and Interstate 405 in Bellevue.

And, the city of Seattle will close the Interstate 5 ramps to and from Mercer Street.

Traffic congestion in the Seattle area is tied (with Atlanta) for tenth worst in the nation. 

A decade ago, traffic here made headlines for being second worst, in annual rankings by the Texas Transportation Institute.  But, researchers found more accurate ways of measuring congestion, and Seattle’s dubious ranking dropped, as Mike Lindstrom writes in The Seattle Times:

Get Ready for Brrrr

Are you ready for snow? There's a possibility you'll see some late Sunday or early Monday in northwest Washington. The north Olympic Peninsula, the San Juan Islands and Whatcom County have the best chance for snow.  Conditions may bring it south to the Seattle area.