Transportation

Distance to closest major airport

The closest major airport is Seattle/Tacoma International Airport (“Sea-Tac”). The airport is 17.5 miles south of the site. Travel time from the airport is less than 30 minutes in light traffic, but can exceed 60 minutes during rush hours.

Shuttle and taxi service availability and rates

The primary shuttle service at Sea-Tac is Shuttle Express. Reservations may be made online. The quoted rate each way between the airport and UW is $22.00 as of May 2007.

A taxi trip from Sea-Tac costs approximately $45 - $50, so this may be a more attractive option if there are multiple people in your party. 

Public transportation availability and rates

Public transportation to the site is provided by King County Metro Transit and Sound Transit. Time-specific itineraries can be obtained from the Regional Trip Planner (for McMahon Hall, specify the destination as "Stevens Way & Pend Oreille Rd"; for Meany Hall, specify the destination as "Meany Hall").

Important note: Some bus routes will be affected by construction on campus. Read the UW commuter alert for more details.

As of May 2007, travel requires a transfer in downtown Seattle; the trip takes about 60-90 minutes and costs $2.00 during peak hours and $1.25 during off-peak hours.

While Sound Transit has light rail to the airport under construction and to the University District under consideration, neither project will be complete before KWDS.

Relationship to highway system

The site is less than 1 mile from I-5 Exit 169. I-5 is the major north-south Interstate on the west coast.

The site is about 1½ miles from the SR-520 Montlake exit. SR-520 is one of the two freeways connecting Seattle with its eastern suburbs across Lake Washington.

This map shows the relationship of major event locations to freeways and the airport.