DOT offers holiday travel tips

The state Department of Transportation has a Web site — www.wsdot.wa.gov — that will provide the best times to travel the state's highways over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Most highways and local roads are expected to be busy on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, and the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Traveling at other times may help people avoid delays.

Thanksgiving is the busiest holiday weekend of the year on Interstate 90 over Snoqualmie Pass and Interstate 5 south of Olympia through Lewis County, the department said.

Past travel data shows that travel times are much shorter Wednesday and Thursday mornings and on the Monday after the holiday.

Longer-than-usual wait times at ferry docks and at Canadian-border crossings also are expected most of the weekend.

Ferry travelers should allow extra time for holiday travel. Four routes — Point Defiance-Tahlequah, Seattle-Bainbridge, Edmonds-Kingston and Mukilteo-Clinton — will be on a holiday schedule on Thanksgiving. All other routes will be on the regular Thursday schedule. There is be no passenger-only service between Seattle and Vashon Island on Thanksgiving. All ferry routes will be on regular schedules the day after the holiday.

At ferry terminals, the longest backups are expected westbound on Wednesday afternoon and evening, and eastbound on Friday morning.

Canada-bound motorists can check the DOT Web site, where traffic cameras can help select the crossing with the shortest lines. There are eight cameras on I-5, five on Highway 543, two on Highway 539 and one on Highway 9.

Amtrak will have an extra daily round trip between Seattle and Portland from Wednesday-Sunday. Passengers traveling by train should make reservations early, because trains often sell out on holiday weekends.

In Seattle, Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in downtown Seattle will mean closures of the southbound I-5 exit to Union Street through midmorning Friday. On Nov. 30, I-90's center roadway will be closed through midmorning for the Seattle Marathon.

In the Bellingham area, a series of slides has closed Highway 11, Chuckanut Drive, in two places. The DOT is keeping the road closed to clear debris and stabilize the hillside.

Highway 169 is closed at the Green River Bridge because of unstable ground and the potential for sliding under one of the Kumer Bridge's piers.

On Highway 16 over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, the DOT expects increased eastbound traffic on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. The state expects a higher-than-usual number of motorists to use the tollbooths, and all manual tollbooths will be open during peak hours.

At the DOT Web site, drivers can get updated traffic and construction information, weather forecasts and road temperatures throughout the state, traffic alerts, and there's a color-coded map of statewide traffic conditions.

A 511 information phone line provides real-time traffic, incident and closure information. Drivers with Web service on a cellphone or PDA can access small-screen I-90 pass updates at www.wsdot.wa.gov/small by clicking on the "mountain pass reports" link.