I-5 North (WA), Seattle, I-405 South To WA 520, Exit 153 To Exit 168B

[Jiltedin2007]

What you forgot to mention was that Interstate 90 is a Transverse Highway, like Interstate 80, and it travels 3,100 miles East to Boston where it goes through Boston Harbor on the Massachusetts Turnpike before it ends at Boston's Logan International Airport.

[jaarmen11]

That is an amazing ride Brent. Thanks for sharing this.

[thunderbolt94]

Seattle is a great city!

[JirgensIsTV]

That is such a cool drive. I really want to go to Seattle, but can't really afford it. Hopefully, I get a job and get to see this stuff all the time! Btw, thanks for posting these vids added with the sweet techno music. Maybe someday, you could come to Kansas City and film around there...? I live about 250 miles from KC (closer to Wichita). Once again, thanks!

[aquanorak]

@JirgensIsTV: Yo! I used to work in Seattle and spend two weeks a month there. It's definitely a great city. I will definitely settle there when I'm ready to have a family. Gloomy weather 9 months per year (September to May or June). If you're able to deal with it the first year, you'll get used to it. Cost of living is high, but you should thank Washington State for not having state income tax.

[Cozybop]

I am gonna be spending my whole day with these videos. Such great music man. I have been in the need of new stuff for a long time.

[twiztedchild666]

I used to drive that interchange daily. After a while of driving it you get used to the turns and offlets and inlets of triffic lol, And I'm from a smalle Country town in florida that doesnt have any huge highways

[Stoffelpiff]

wow das video ist wirklich gut da kann man nur sagen: Daumen hoch XD

[stanbernadino]

Maserati in right lane around 5:25 =]

[Pennywise604]

I know a beautiful drive you could record. Drive the Coquihalla (Hwy 5) through BC. Goes through the mountains, 4-6 lanes wide, usually empty, and has a design speed of 90 mph. Careful in the winter though! You should come back to Vancouver in 2013, when our Trans Canada Highway is completed it's massive upgrade.

[rosabellis]

@Pennywise604

You should try the Crowsnest Highway from Hope to Penticton. It's a small highway with lots of tight turns past Manning Park, but the views are stunning. It's a bit difficult to drive on... especially since I'm a novice driver...

[UnicornsRcute]

I found this video and you account because FreewayJim liked this video.... Is there any other freewayGuys I should now about? :P

[401RoadWarrior]

Been there in the summer of '07, Toronto 2 Sault St Marie, MI, Int Falls, MN, ND, MT, ID, WA (to Blaine then south 2 Seattle), then to SF, Reno, NV, Sacramento, Death Valley, LA, San Diego, Phoenix, Grand Canyon, Houston/Galveston, New Orleans, Key West, Charleston, SC, DC and back home to Toronto, all in one of a kind road trip, over 15K miles in 4 weeks.

Have you done Death Valley National Park?

Drive safely.

Chris

[UnicornsRcute]

@401RoadWarrior k

[SirWilly77]

Not sure if you have a video of I-5 in the stretch leading up to the Canuckian border near Vancouver, but the views are incredible!

[FreewayBrent]

@SirWilly77: Man, you're not kidding. That's one incredible ride, up to Blaine. Unfortunately, the weather was a bit unpredictable, and I wasn't going to risk driving 3 hours roundtrip, only to encounter rain. Next time, if the weather is decent, I'll get up there to record.

[Caprican28]

Hey I know it isn't really your style seemingly but I was hoping if you could shoot some video like this of the Seattle monorail also. There is nearly no footage of it (of this quality) on YouTube.

[FreewayBrent]

@Caprican28: That's a bit of a random (but reasonable) request. However, I do not live in Seattle (I live near Sacramento). Did you mean filming the monorail, in terms of following it from inside of an automobile, or actually setting up a tripod and camcorder inside of a monorail car?

[Caprican28]

from inside of the monorail looking outside ahead.

[onorebakasama]

I'm late to the discussion, but I just thought I'd say... I love the sound concrete makes when driving over it. It adds a bit of spice to the drive, especially if most of the road is asphalted. I'm gonna assume the distinct sound is new technology, though: in Baltimore, Northern Parkway (pretty old and worn) is rather quiet, but in Salisbury, MD, the US 50:  Salisbury Bypass (late 2002) is quite audible in that respect.

...Yeah, I don't know much. Kind of new to road interest.

[BrainEatingApe]

Perfect music that really fuses with the visual component so that the two become one great video.

[FreewayBrent]

@BrainEatingApe: Hey, I'm humbled by the good words from you. Thank you. I wasn't quite sure how this song was going to work out, as I couldn't find another song on my playlist that was very close in time length as the song I chose for this particular video, but it seems like everyone enjoyed the tune. Thanks for watching.

[aswchris]

Great video. Small note, there is a lot of text, which makes it very complete and informative, but sometimes it's hard to follow both the video and the text at the same time. :)

[FreewayBrent]

@aswchris: I've had a few others mention this, too. With that said, I'm intentionally going with a descriptive-style presentation, as I'm trying to teach my viewers a thing or two about what is being showcased in the videos. The Washington State Dept. of Transportation gave me huge kudos today, too, for how I fused all the information together in a single video. Ha, I guess in short, I suppose the best advice I could offer is to just watch the video twice. Thanks for watching, Chris. :-)

[Intrepidity]

Those variable speed signs above the highway, is that something new in the US? Over here in the Netherlands they're almost everywhere, even in rural areas, and in most other European countries they're at least in most urban zones. They've been there since at least the 70's, so i can't imagine that this is something new across the pond..

[FreewayBrent]

@Intrepidity: Variable speed limits zones exist in a few rare cases in the U.S., but the Seattle metro region is the first to implement the technology, on a regional-wide scale. The technology also exists along I-90, just east of Seattle, and again about 45 minutes east, as you head up Snoqualmie Pass. The only other variable speed limit zone in the western U.S. (at least that I'm aware of) is I-70 thru Glenwood Canyon, in Western Colorado.

[eskercurve]

@Intrepidity There have been electronic signs over highways in the US since the 80s, but they were mostly to inform drivers of drive time or incidents, but those were only in the major roads. Another thing why this is full of fail is because there aren't any real reversible lanes to allow traffic to flow more freely. These just reduce the speed limit as traffic approaches. And American drivers will, on the whole **ignore** them.

[aquanorak]

Great job FreewayBrent! Finally a video of my usual commute from Tukwila to Seattle via I-5. What makes Seattle freeways a character of its own, and somewhat tricky to other metro freeways in the US is that it has overhead variable speed limits that change every half mile (it's regulatory, so you get ticketed if caught speeding) and the left exits on the freeway. Despite the traffic during rush hour and lunch time, this is one of my favorite drives.

[FreewayBrent]

@aquanorak: I would have to rank I-5 thru the entire Puget Sound region, as one of my top 10 favorite urban freeways in the country. I hope other drivers realize those variable speed limits are regulatory, and not just advisory speeds!

On a side note, in my 550,000+ miles of driving thru 44 states, 3 Canadian provinces and 2 Mexican states, I have *never* seen an interchange like the I-405/SR 518 interchange in Tukwila. Left and right-handed entrance/exit ramps are commonplace in the...

[FreewayBrent]

@aquanorak...Midwest, and parts of the South, but usually along 4 or 6 lane freeways. To see such a setup on a freeway with as many as 14 lanes, plus a separate HOV facility running down the middle, is very unusual.

[eskercurve]

I look forward to the video of the express lanes, since it effectively doubles the capacity of the highway through to Northgate, which is why there's so much traffic backup in the non-express lanes since it merges back there. It's not a surprise to see stop and go traffic from Northgate all the way south to downtown, and vice versa. The spaghetti like structure of left merges, exits, with right merges and exits mean, in my view, it's poorly designed by modern standards. Thing's 50 years old!

[FreewayBrent]

@eskercurve: My future video, focusing on just the setup thru Downtown along I-5, will only include the northbound ride along the express lanes, as I did not get the chance to record it during the late morning, when the lanes are reversed in the southbound direction (which is slightly more interesting, IMO). Question. Do the express lanes include HOV lanes in the northbound direction? I only drove it northbound for about 5 miles, and did not notice a HOV setup. I know the left most lane...

[eskercurve]

@FreewayBrent That is a good question, I really don't know. From what I remember when I used to live in the U district just north of the bridge (there's a really handy exit for 43rd off the express lanes, woot!) I do not believe northbound was restricted.

[FreewayBrent]

@eskercurve: After looking thru the WSDOT website, it looks like the southbound HOV lane is only for a 2 mile stretch (as you enter downtown, as there are specific exits for HOV's only). The northbound lanes are simply express lanes, open to all, without any restrictions.

[FreewayBrent]

@eskercurve: ...is reserved for HOV's in the southbound direction.

[FreewayBrent]

@eskercurve: And yes, I have *never ever* seen a setup like the I-405/SR 518 interchange, where you have those left and right-handed entrance and exit ramps, across as many as 14 lanes. You usually see such setups in the South and Midwest, but with only 4 or 6 lanes, *not* 14. Add in the separate HOV facility running down the middle of it, and the end result is an interchange that can certainly be ranked amongst the most unique in the country. Surprised that flyover ramps don't exist there.

[ScrewdUPClickV2]

impressive engineering throughout . the bridge at 4:21 totaly got my attention . look at that slope angle .

[ScrewdUPClickV2]

exceptional video . from looking that interchange 4:00 spokane freeway . thats inpressive height westbound to i-5 s . i like to contact wsdot and g et height , about that one. damn perfect job , good song choice.

[quijeros]

Wow. There's a lot going on here, especially going through downtown. I'm really impressed by Seattle so far. Nice drive!

[FreewayBrent]

@quijeros: Yes, Seattle definitely has a very neat freeway network, in place. I-5 thru Seattle, in particular, is one of my favorite urban drives in the country.

[Cyrus992]

Those areas give me a cool, calm, breezy, and relaxed feel. I should go there

[Freewayjim]

Really cool ride, 3:45 to the end is especially impressive, 5*

[FreewayBrent]

@Freewayjim: Yes, definitely one of my favorite rides in the country.

[Bryant5493]

Nice video. Seems like Seattle has a more complex freeway network than I would've thought.

[FreewayBrent]

@Bryant5493: Yes, several of their freeways are very nicely designed; unfortunately, WSDOT really needs to get the ball rolling with resurfacing the concrete along much of I-5, within 10 miles of Seattle in both directions. 

[Bryant5493]

@FreewayBrent

Gosh, I hate concrete. But I do like when it "whistles." :-D

[FreewayBrent]

@Bryant5493: What particular materials make certain concrete surfaces "whistle", if you would happen to know by any chance? I-15 thru Nevada makes the most distinct "whistling" noise I've ever heard along a concrete surface, while you rarely hear any noise while driving along California's concrete freeways.

[Bryant5493]

@FreewayBrent

I'm not sure what materials make the concrete "whistle," but I usually hear it when I'm on a bridge (e.g., I-85 bridge in northeast Atlanta between I-75 and Georgia 400).

[meteorologist4life]

Good vid Brent...hopefully you'll go further north through Northgate and into Everett...decent stretch of interstate if you can beat the traffic. It can get pretty bad at times!

[FreewayBrent]

@meteorologist4life: Those videos will be coming...  :-)