You've Been Warned: Weekend Traffic Alerts

"Seattle Traffic" courtesy of Seattle Transit blogger and Seattlest Flickr Pool member Oran Viriyincy

No marathons this weekend, but Seattle, you could still get snarled if you don't plan your route. Don't worry--we've got you covered with a roundup of planned road construction and closures. Thanks to SDOT and WSDOT for the information.

All Weekend:

• South Lake Union might be kind of a hassle during the day on Saturday, but not for the reasons we usually find. This weekend, the Wooden Boats Festival is expected to draw around 4,000 people to the already-congested area, making Mercer a little sticky from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.


• There is something called the "Purpose of Life Festival" in South Seattle this weekend. From 10 a.m. until 10 p.m., S. Juneau Street and 37th Ave, around MLK Way, will be shut down for this event.

Saturday:

• Zombies really won't die, will they? The Red, White, and Dead Zombie Walk will be returning once again to Fremont on Saturday night, closing down N. 35th Street between Phinney Ave. and 1st Ave. from 10 a.m. until midnight.


• Further South, there is a Mariner's home game scheduled for around 7:00 p.m. tomorrow night. Expect the usual sports-related snags in SoDo and on the surrounding bridges.

Sunday:

• The Mariners play a day game on Sunday. Keep an eye out for traffic around 1 p.m,, and again around 4 p.m.


• A small midnight race, the Firework 5000, around Memorial Stadium will have parts of Mercer closed down in the middle of the night. This should be easy to avoid.

Monday:

• Parts of 44th Ave. SW and Sunset Ave. will be closed for the Admiral District's children's parade, which expects about 500 participants and a whole lot of cuteness.


• And, of course, Fremont will be a disaster on Monday, due to the the Family 4th at Gasworks Park. This will likely impact traffic on Mercer, Eastlake, Aurora and all of the areas around the park.


• Finally, parts of I-5 will be closed for construction beginning at 9 p.m. on Monday night, making driving home from parties a potential headache. Impacted areas include the southbound I-5 off-ramps to Roanoke Streets and Boylston Street.
  Also, the southbound I-5 exit-only lane and off-ramp to Mercer Street (all lanes), will be closed by 10 p.m. and reopen after the fireworks show over Lake Union. Yikes.

Tuesday:
Tuesday is not technically a holiday, but there is a parade planned by the Lions Club. The parade begins at 10 a.m.and lasts until 2 p.m., but heavy downtown traffic is expected as a result for most of the day.

Drive safely, Seattle!