Seattle Traffic

In the news last week was a report that put Seattle at the very top of the 'Worst Traffic in the Country' list. Worse than LA even, it said. We were surprised.

When we lived in Portland, traffic jams and parking lots that were supposed to be thruways were a fact of life. We spent hours stuck in traffic then - as we do NOW, when we go to visit! When we moved to the Bay area, San Francisco traffic was horrific and even little Santa Rosa - where we lived, just north of SF - had complete blockage for much of the day.

So here we are in the worst of the worst. But, in fact, we almost never see it.

My initial take on that is that we've learned to bypass most of the traffic, or simply avoid the worst times. We skirt around the edges on side streets. Or we stick to the more rural communities when we run errands. We never drive on I-5 between Seattle and Tacoma - possibly the worst stretch for stalled traffic - simply because we never need to.

Somehow the worst of the worst has turned into the best of the best.

We like it here.