How Biden’s Seattle visit will impact you: Presidential road closures, delays and more
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President Joe Biden is in Seattle today for Earth Day, but his visit may also include some extra traffic and delays for locals.
Biden began Friday in Seward Park to sign an executive order, and later will visit Green River College’s Mel Lindbloom Student Union in Auburn to deliver a speech, according to The Seattle Times.
Biden is expected to depart from Seattle around 2:30 p.m. from Sea-Tac airport.
“Intermittent heavy congestion” is expected throughout the Seattle metro area, according to Washington State Patrol Trooper Rick Johnson.
#TrafficAlert for tomorrow evening and Friday in the Seattle metropolitan area. Expect intermittent heavy congestion due to temporary closures of the freeway system due to a Presidential visit.
— Trooper Rick Johnson (@wspd2pio) April 21, 2022
Those traveling throughout Seattle are also encouraged to plan ahead for extra travel times by the Washington State Department of Transportation.
Reminder for those of you using our roads in the Seattle area today https://t.co/H518Y8J3ti
— WSDOT Traffic (@wsdot_traffic) April 22, 2022
The Seattle Department of Transportation will be adjusting traffic signal timing based on road closures or alternate routes.
For metro riders, Sound Transit’s Link 1 rail may help cut down on traffic times, but will have reroutes and some delays on Friday, and King County Metro warns transit riders of “potential intermittent temporary delays” while the president is near the area.
King’s County Metro’s Twitter account is continually updating transit alerts and disruptions.
When Biden arrived at Sea-Tac on Thursday, Sea-Tac airport tweeted a warning for travelers on delays, which could be repeated during Biden’s departure on Friday:
TRAVELERS - Expect potential delays during the early evening hours due to the arrival of Air Force One at SEA. Security protocols call for all air traffic to stop 30 mins+ prior to arrival and shortly afterwards. Flights and roadways in and out during that time will be affected. pic.twitter.com/apjhkfOSzu
— Seattle-Tacoma Intl. Airport (@flySEA) April 21, 2022
