How to avoid Washington's Memorial Day traffic
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Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start of summer travel season — and AAA expects roughly 1.23 million Washingtonians to head out of town during the holiday weekend.
Why it matters: Your departure time could make or break your trip.
State of play: Nationwide, AAA predicts this will be the busiest Memorial Day ever with 45 million Americans expected to travel 50 miles or more over the weekend.
- That's 200,000 more than last year, per AAA.
- The Pacific region is among the nation's busiest Memorial Day travel regions with AAA projecting nearly 7.8 million travelers across California, Hawaii, Oregon, Alaska and Washington.
- Washington's projected travel volume is well above pre-pandemic levels and marks the highest Memorial Day travel forecast recorded in at least 20 years, AAA Washington tells Axios.
🚙 Nearly 1 million Washington residents are expected to drive to their destinations.
- Traffic on Friday afternoon is likely to be significantly worse than usual, especially on Interstate 5 north and south leaving the city, per AAA Washington.
- The Washington Department of Transportation says traffic will be heavy as well on Interstate 90 and Highway 2. Travel times could nearly double during the peaks.
- Monday afternoon looks packed, too: Drivers returning from Ellensburg on I-90 east Monday afternoon could see travel times increase by 56% around 2:30pm, per AAA Washington.
Best bet: Leave early in the morning or later in the evening, or travel Sunday instead, according to INRIX, the transportation analytics company that works with AAA on travel forecasts.
✈️ Air travel is expected to surge, too, with about 970,000 travelers passing through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport between May 21-26.
- Thursday and Friday are projected to be the busiest travel days at about 180,000 passengers each, per the Port of Seattle.
Nearly 99,000 local travelers are expected to take buses, trains or cruises this weekend — up sharply from roughly 73,000 in 2019, per AAA Washington.
⛴️ Washington State Ferries is preparing for about 350,000 riders over the holiday stretch. The busiest sailings Friday and Saturday are expected to be westbound, while eastbound ferries back toward Seattle will likely see the heaviest traffic Sunday and Monday.
What we're watching: Aggressive Monday-morning drivers.
- AAA and Cambridge Mobile Telematics clocked a 29% spike in Memorial Day speeding compared to other Mondays, with speeding peaking from 7–9am.