Biden Lands In Seattle: Expect Traffic Impacts Into Friday

SEATTLE — President Joe Biden arrived in the Emerald City Thursday afternoon and will make several stops around town through Friday, which will impact travel along major routes at times and bring the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to a standstill twice.

Air Force One landed at SEA slightly ahead of schedule, touching down around 5:10 p.m., and President Biden was expected to attend a Democratic fundraiser in Seattle before staying the night at a downtown hotel, then traveling to two more events Friday. He was greeted on the tarmac by Gov. Jay Inslee and Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell.

The president's West Coast trip began in Portland earlier Thursday, where Biden highlighted some of the Pacific Northwest's benefits from the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. According to The Seattle Times, he was scheduled to attend a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee somewhere in Seattle Thursday evening.

While security measures limit the level of details publicly shared, photos showed increased security downtown near The Westin Seattle, which often hosts dignitaries during official visits to Puget Sound, including former President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Though Thursday's travel impacts are likely limited to the Seattle area, President Biden is expected at a pair of events Friday, signing a new executive order related to climate change for Earth Day at Seward Park and visiting Green River College in Auburn, which will impact some routes between Seattle and South King County.

The president's travel details are kept largely under wraps, but airport officials warned Air Force One's arrival and departure would temporarily halt all air traffic and block nearby roads. Motorcade routes will also require the closure of major roadways as needed, and Washington State Patrol cautioned that travelers should expect "intermittent heavy congestion" from necessary closures between Thursday evening and Friday afternoon.

President Biden's overnight Seattle stay will also limit some service for the Seattle Streetcar and reroute certain King County Metro buses, while portions of Westlake Avenue North, Denny Way, 4th Avenue, and Lenora, Virginia and Pine streets remain closed until 4 p.m. Friday. The Link light rail is scheduled to run normally and should be a good bet for travelers who need to move through downtown.

Here are the planned changes, per King County Metro:

• Route 7 heading toward downtown Seattle will not serve its last stop on eastbound Virginia St. Heading toward Rainier Beach, board at the temporary terminal stop southbound on 1st Av, just north of Virginia St.
• Routes 40, 62, 64, 320 and the RapidRide C Line heading toward downtown, or Westwood Village are rerouted at or near - Denny Way and will travel via Dexter Av N, 7th Av, Bell S, 6th, Wall St to 3rd Av into downtown Seattle.
• Route 70 to the U District Station will travel via alternate nearby streets and will not serve the stop eastbound on Virginia St just west of 6th Av. Heading toward downtown Seattle, this route will travel instead via Boren Av, Pine St, 3rd Av and then on to its regular route, and will not serve the stops on Stewart St, and the stop southbound on 3rd Av just north of Pine St.
• Routes 216 to Bear Creek Park-and-Ride, 218 to Issaquah Highlands and 257, 268, 311 and Sound Transit Express Route 545 heading toward downtown Seattle are rerouted and are traveling via Boren, Pine St, and then to either 2nd Av or 5th Av to their regular route.
• Sound Transit Express Route 554 heading toward downtown Seattle will not serve the stops north of 4th Av and Pike St. Heading toward Issaquah, board at the temporary terminal southbound on 2nd Av just south of Stewart St.
• City of Seattle First Hill Streetcar will not operate south of Lenora St. The platform stops on Westlake Av at Olive Way and at Seventh Av stations will not be served.
• Link light rail is operating; check for Sound Transit Link service advisories.

Residents can keep up with travel alerts from the Washington State Department of Transportation, Seattle Department of Transportation and the Washington State Patrol online and via social media, but should expect traffic cameras to go dark as the president moves through the region. WSDOT said Thursday that restrictions from the U.S. Secret Service prevent the agency from sharing information on specific closures.

• View WSDOT's map of real-time traffic alerts.
• Check for breaking updates from WSDOT, WSP and SDOT via Twitter.