Seattle fits tightly on various islands and peninsulas, between all kinds of bodies of water and on and between steep mountains (which did cause its Midwestern founding fathers to make some poor planning when first settling the area). This means there is not much space to work with as the city grows and has had to accommodate more traffic. So the local Dept. of Transportation uses all kinds of measures to manage the mess.
There were HOV lanes pretty much everywhere. For our readers not used to busy US metropolitan areas, that stands for High Occupancy Vehicle. Now the H in HOV is relative of course. In fact, even though I was never alone in the car during the trip, I never went to those lanes because I couldn't keep track of where they were for 2 or more people per vehicle and where they were for at least 3 persons.
As the limited highways crisscrossing the area's lakes can get busy at times, especially when one of the main ones is shut down, as was the case on Saturday & Sunday, incoming traffic is filtered in by lights on the on-ramps during rush hour, so that vehicles adding to congestion trickle in rather than flow into the gridlock: the light flashes green for just one car, then the next one has to wait another 5 seconds or so before coming in. But here again, for HOV's, there's a second lane in the on-ramp that bypasses the light.
There are a LOT of signs to look out for. And sometimes, you don't have much reaction time to move over a few lanes so that you get your exit, or you don't leave the highway before you want to. You may very well find yourself where the right lane suddenly is for the next two exits only, the next lane is for the following exit (which is less than a mile away), and the lane after that is reserved for buses. Oh and the road is twisting and turning around, between the cliffs and the water, while the locals who know the roads are hurrying by all around you.
Oh, and even once you're going down the exit ramp, keep watching the signs. If you're not ready at the fork, you could easily wind up way up- or downhill (though according to the map, right next to) where you want to be. Remember: steep slopes everywhere. We got caught at one point as we were leaving downtown, and after looking at the map we figured turning onto 5th Ave would get us en route to the interstate. Well, instead of intersecting with 5th, we found ourselves about 5 stories above 5th Ave (on a bridge between the blocks).
Most of the city is on a grid: avenues go North-South, and streets go East-West. But the heart of downtown is actually on a slightly different grid: avenues go NNW-SSE, and streets go WSW-ENE. And then right next to that, there's an area with NW-SE avenues, and SW-NE streets. Be careful when going from one neighborhood to the other (remember, all the locals all around you are in a hurry to get moving between the lost tourists)! Of course a lot these roads are one way only. And just because you want to go toward your left and the upcoming major throughway has traffic going in that direction, left turns may be illegal at that intersection.
With all the cars of a major American city is such a tight place, they had to do something about parking too. Fortunately there are quite a lot of parking lots and garages throughout the greater downtown area, with a range of prices (which vary depending on the time of day/week) and of shadiness. It was interesting to note that apparently every one of these had a whole bunch of parking spaces reserved for "compact" cars. Sometimes the painting indicating that the spot was for small vehicles only was so faded, I had no idea if anyone checked if these indications were being abided or not, or if the space was still considered for compact cars or not. The HHR could fit in most of them, but if other cars were parked adjacently, it was a much easier exit to get the unmarked spots.
Another gadget they use out there to control traffic on the highways is electric speed signs. So the speed limit can be changed throughout the day. There may even have been a case of different speed limits for different lanes.
They also put those little bumps next to the white lines between lanes, and the grooves start in the white line marking the edge of the right lane, rather than out in the shoulder. Clever ways to let drivers know as soon as they are moving out of their lane.
Even though we were in the same country, I felt like it was a very different driving experience than what I'm used to. At times it was fascinating. Certainly, it was best enjoyed when we were not pressed for time. As a quarkochronic myself, not being pressed for time when going somewhere isn't my strong suit, so I'm glad God blessed me with Sara, who's much better at getting out the door extra early.
So if you are ever driving in the Seattle area, I hope you remember this briefing. Drive safe, and do enjoy the beautiful landscapes and sceneries all around you, which are truly stunning out there. But keep checking your blind spot too. Was that the exit we wanted? Oops!
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