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Traffic from Woodburn, OR to Centralia, WA in morning?

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napabill

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Planning a road trip north in September and am thinking of staying in Woodburn, OR on the way. Need to be in Anacortes for a ferry at noon. Shouldn't be a problem, but would require departing Woodburn at 8am. How bad is the commute traffic going to be going through Portland? And any preferred route?

Thanks.
 
Planning a road trip north in September and am thinking of staying in Woodburn, OR on the way. Need to be in Anacortes for a ferry at noon. Shouldn't be a problem, but would require departing Woodburn at 8am. How bad is the commute traffic going to be going through Portland? And any preferred route?

Thanks.

Bill -
We're doing a similar trip later this month -- from Scottsdale to Saltspring Island, BC. We're taking the Port Angeles to Victoria ferry instead of the one at Anacortes though...

For the trip planning, we decided to break the Bay Area to BC portion of the trip over 3 days / 2 nights. Here's the plan:
- Day 1: San Francisco to Grants Pass. 427 miles. We're playing tourist in the morning, so won't really be on the road until after noon.
- Day 2: Grants Pass to Olympia WA. 403 miles. We're planning on a few stops (Evergreen Aviation Museum and Portland), so more of a poke-along day.
- Day 3: Olympia to Saltspring via Port Angeles - 167 miles (but a couple ferries...)

We considered staying in Portland, but decided to get up to Centralia / Olympia instead. We need to be at the ferry terminal by ~11:30 and didn't want to feel rushed. Olympia to Port Angeles is just under 2 hours. Had we stayed in Portland, we would have added another ~2.5 hours. We would have had to be on the road by 6am, so figured it would be easier to do those extra 2.5 hours in the evening instead of early the next morning...
 
There's the I 205 bypass around Portland, but it adds miles and the traffic is often about the same during commute hours. You could check on the nav if you have real-time traffic. If it were me, I think I'd charge in Woodburn and continue to Portland for the night. There are several decent places in north Portland off i-5 near the Columbia River, and in the morning the traffic heading out of Portland from there is generally mild. From there it's only about 85 miles to Centralia.
 
I wouldn't worry about Portland.

But, on the other hand, It's going to take you 4.5 hrs road time to get to Anacortes. This assumes no traffic in PDX, SEA and Everett. Also, to get a charge in Burlington, you have to go a bit north of Route 20 (the road to the Ferry). I'd budget 6.5 hrs (4.5 for the drive, 30 mins each at 2 superchargers, 30 minutes loading time and 30 minutes buffer). You could do in less time but you could also run into any number of glitches.

Good luck.
 
I wouldn't worry about Portland.

But, on the other hand, It's going to take you 4.5 hrs road time to get to Anacortes. This assumes no traffic in PDX, SEA and Everett. Also, to get a charge in Burlington, you have to go a bit north of Route 20 (the road to the Ferry). I'd budget 6.5 hrs (4.5 for the drive, 30 mins each at 2 superchargers, 30 minutes loading time and 30 minutes buffer). You could do in less time but you could also run into any number of glitches.



Good luck.

Thanks to you and the others for the responses. Your calculations pretty much agree with mine. But I've decided to push the day before and get to Vancouver, WA for an overnight. Then traffic shouldn't be an issue in the morning. I'm thinking if we leave Vancouver at 8 am, we should have no problem getting to Burlington (w/ stop in Centralia) for a range charge, and then to Anacortes to get in line for the 2:00 pm ferry to Friday Harbor.
 
Well, OK. The ferry schedule is now in "Summer" mode, that means if your boat leaves @ 1400 hrs you are asked to be in line by noon. We went to Orcas for fathers day and were there 1 hr and 20 min. before departure and had to wait on stand by, we were the last care loaded. Burlington SC is @ Cook Rd. exit 232, 2 mi. north of Hwy 20 so that is not an issue. If you leave Vanc. at 0800 you are going to miss the boat, that puts you in the greater Seattle area at the tail end of rush hour. Depending on conditions, road work, crashes and other fun stuff it has taken us as long as 3 hrs.to get from south of Tacoma to just north of Everett. No joke!! If you can shift your trip times around, there is a very nice motel and a decent diner at the 232 SCer, then it is a nice relaxing drive to the terminal in the morning to be in line by 1200 hrs. Have a fun trip, weather should still be great.
 
We took the Sidney, BC to Anacortes fairy last summer. We arrived in Sidney about 90 minutes before departure and were stuck in a queue until almost boarding time. Once we got to Anacortes, it took nearly an hour to get off the ship and then through customs. That was on a Thursday...
 
Alternate Scenic Route to Anacortes

Portland to Centralia is a breeze.

If your destination is Anacortes for the San Juan ferry, you can take the scenic route and avoid urban traffic. About 30 miles north of Centralia you can take HWY 101 and follow signs to Port Townsend, a great historic waterfront destination in itself. The route takes you along the scenic Hood Canal and the base of the Olympic Mountains. You can take the ferry from Port Townsend to Coupeville and drive to Anacortes.

On the Port Townsend route, you will cross Deception Pass south of Anacortes, the gateway for boats to the San Juans. It is worth stopping to take a peek over the bridge. When the current is slack, it is a parade of boats, when the current is running it is an amazing sight of whirlpools and turbulent waters surrounded by rock cliffs, small rock islands and tall evergreens with a view of the San Juans to the West.

If you are taking an extra day, you can continue past Port Townsend on 101 to Port Angeles. The locals put a Clipper Creek CS-100 a couple blocks from the Black Ball ferry dock to Victoria, BC. The ferry's name is Coho and it lands in front the Provincial buildings and Empress Hotel in the heart of Victoria. In Victoria's northern suburb of Sydney, you can catch the WSF to the San Juans. Just don't forget your passport if you use this route!

These are some the most beautiful drives in the country. (I think it is THE most beautiful and that is why I can't move away!)

The only caveat is, when there are extreme tides, the Port Townsend/Coupeville ferry will cancel some runs while the tide is out a couple times a month. Warnings and dates are on the WSF website. WSDOT - Ferries - Schedule: Summer 2014 Tidal Cancellations for Port Townsend / Coupeville


- - - Updated - - -

The ferries will still be on Summer schedule in September. That is prime season in the NW still. I'd be certain to get reservations on all the routes I mentioned, including the San Juan route. Washington State Ferries Vehicle Reservations System (WSF VRS)


You might not get lucky making it to the Anacortes ferry by 2pm if you go through Tacoma and Seattle. Too many bottlenecks and incidents. There is no grace on weekends either when it comes to I-5. Traffic routinely doubles travel time. It routinely takes me 4 hours to do the drive from Centralia to Seattle.