Memorial Day Weekend Travel Guide: Passes, Gas, Traffic, Ferries

SEATTLE, WA — This Memorial Day weekend could be the busiest for travel since 2005, according to AAA, with about 43 million people hitting the road nationwide. For many, it might feel like most of those travelers are heading in or out of Puget Sound.

Whether you're driving, ferry-ing, flying, or whatever mode, you're probably going to start running into travel delays beginning Thursday. We've compiled some travel tips to help you get around, and hopefully avoid the congestion.

Construction

The good news first: WSDOT is suspending most highway work through Memorial Day weekend. Local road work might still be going on. You can check the King County Road Services map to see ongoing and upcoming construction closures.

Sea-Tac Airport

Sea-Tac officials expect about 500,000 people will travel through the airport in the three days before Memorial Day weekend starts. That's a lot. Here are some tips from the airport:

• Arrive early: two hours for domestic flights and three hours for international flights
• Don't drive: Take light rail, a bus, or a taxi/rideshare. One neat light rail trick: make drop offs at the Angle Lake stop. It's not busy, and it's only one stop away from Sea-Tac.
• Don't delay screenings: That means getting rid of food and other items before you get in the security line. Fewer carry-on items will help lines move faster.

Mountain passes

WSDOT expects to have the two major passes on the east side of Mt. Rainier — Cayuse and Chinook — open by the weekend. Check the pass webpages for updates here.

U.S. 20 over the North Cascades opened in April, and U.S. 2 and Snoqualmie Pass are open as usual.

Peak travel times

Go Thursday, don't go Friday, and maybe don't go Saturday. That's the general advice from WSDOT's travel forecasts. Traffic will likely be stop-and-go all day (and we mean ALL DAY) on Friday on major highways, mainly eastbound I-90 and U.S. 2. Check the Memorial Day travel forecasts for all major highways here.

Gas Prices

Gas is expensive west of the Cascades and cheaper east of the Cascades. According to AAA, the average price in King County is $3.66 per gallon. But just over Snoqualmie Pass in Kittitas County, it's $3.47 per gallon. The cheapest gas is out by the Idaho border, averaging about $3.25 per gallon in Spokane County.

State ferries

Expect them to be busy all weekend. You can see the latest alerts for delays and cancellations here. There are three state ferry routes accepting reservations: Port Townsend to Coupeville, Anacortes to the San Juans, and Anacortes to British Columbia. Spots are filling up — there were only two ferries with spots available to the San Juan Islands on Friday as of Wednesday afternoon.

Campsites

Looking for a last-minute camping spot at a state park? Get in line.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the only campsites available are first come, first served. That means you have to drive to the park and hope no one else is in line ahead of you. Quite a gamble for three nights at Curlew Lake State Park, 300 miles from the Seattle area.