Traffic will be jammed during busy weekend with Taylor Swift, other big events

SEATTLE — Several big events in Seattle are expected to make traffic a mess starting Friday.

The Mariners have a homestand against the Blue Jays at T-Mobile Park starting Friday.

The Bite of Seattle at Seattle Center also starts Friday along with the Capitol Hill Block Party.

The Seattle Storm are playing the Chicago Sky at Climate Pledge Arena at 6 p.m. Saturday.

The biggest attraction by far is the sold-out Taylor Swift concert at Lumen Field on Saturday and Sunday. Swift’s fans, known as “Swifties” were already gathering on Friday, waiting for concert merchandise to drop at 10 a.m.

If the events weren’t enough, there is also another weekend closure of the State Route 520 Bridge starting at 11 p.m. Friday until 5 a.m. Monday. Montlake Boulevard remains closed until Monday morning.

Also, State Route 18 will be closed this weekend for maintenance between Interstate 90 near Snoqualmie and Issaquah-Hobart Road Southeast in Hobart starting at 9 p.m. on Friday. A detour will guide people around the closure using State Route 169, Interstate 405 and I-90. The highway will reopen at noon Sunday.

Transportation officials told us the heaviest traffic on both Saturday and Sunday will be during the mid-to-late afternoon.

That’s because the Mariners-Blue Jays games start at 1:10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and the gates at Lumen Field open at 4:30 p.m. on both days.

So at one point, there will be mass crowds of Swifties converging with baseball fans.

Farther north, people attending the Bite of Seattle will crowd Seattle Center.

The Washington State Department of Transportation’s number one piece of advice to save time and money if you’re heading into Seattle is to take public transportation.

On Sound Transit’s Link light rail, you can ride the 1 Line to and from Taylor Swift.

Sound Transit will be running late-night Link service for both nights of concerts to make sure fans can get back home safely.

On July 22 and 23, 1 Line trains will run:

• Start of service – 8 a.m. – Every 12 minutes
• 8 a.m. – 10 p.m. – Every 10 minutes
• 10 p.m. – end of service – Every 15 minutes

There will also be Sounder train service for Saturday’s concert. You can find the Sounder and Link light rail schedules for this weekend at this link.

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