Central Puget Sound Interstate 405 - Commute times
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Commute times for the I-405 corridor in the central Puget Sound region.
Commute times
This page displays average (mean) and reliable (95th percentile) morning and evening peak commute times for weekday trips on I-405 between Bellevue and Everett, Bellevue and Lynnwood, and Tukwila and Bellevue.
The average peak commute times indicate how long it took, on average, to make that trip during the worst part of the morning (or evening) commute in a given year. The reliable peak commute time shows how much time someone traveling during the worst of the morning or evening commute would have to allow for their trip in order to arrive at their destination on time on 19 out of 20 days. For details on the methodology used to calculate commute times, see WSDOT's Handbook for Corridor Capacity Evaluation (PDF 5.9MB).
Highway capacity constraints vary based on the presence of managed lanes and multimodal travel options; the I-405 corridor is served by transit buses, HOV lanes and, between Bellevue and Lynnwood, by Express Toll Lanes (ETLs). For detailed information about the I-405 ETLs, see I-405 Express Toll Lanes Between Bellevue and Lynnwood | WSDOT (wa.gov)
Sources: WSDOT Transportation Safety and Systems Analysis Division and WSDOT TRACFLOW (https://tracflow.wsdot.wa.gov/)
Note: Transit travel time data was not collected for 2018 due to a pause in publication while WSDOT conducted an engagement process to inform the redesign of this dashboard. Commute times are rounded to the nearest minute.
Multi-year trends
In 2022, travel times continued to increase due to the ongoing recovery of traffic volume in the wake of COVID-19. However, travel times in 2022 were still better than the pre-pandemic levels.
In 2020, due to the statewide response to COVID-19 there was a significant decrease in commute times compared to previous years.
From 2018 through 2019, the central Puget Sound region experienced substantial economic growth and increases in employment, which resulted in more commuters. During this time, rapidly increasing housing prices caused many Washingtonians in this region to move further from their workplaces to find affordable housing; many of these people commute on I-405. Despite this economic growth, most travel times on I-405 GP and HOV commutes were relatively steady from 2018 to 2019. Transit travel times also held relatively steady over this period, except on the northern part of the corridor where they increased substantially in 2019.
Annual highlights
In 2022, travel times continued to increase due to ongoing recovery of traffic volume in the wake of COVID-19. The 13-mile trip from Tukwila to Bellevue in the GP lanes on I-405 during the peak morning commute took an average of 37 minutes. This was almost three times the 13 minutes it would have taken to travel the same route at the posted speed limit, and 15 minutes below the reliable travel time of 52 minutes. In contrast, the average travel time for the same commute in the HOV lane was 21 minutes (with a reliable travel time of 31 minutes).
The 23-mile trip from Bellevue to Everett in the GP lanes on I-405 during the peak evening commute took an average of 37 minutes. This was 14 minutes longer than it would have taken to travel the same route at the posted speed limit, and 16 minutes below the reliable travel time of 53 minutes. The average travel time for the same commute in the HOV lane was 27 minutes (with a reliable travel time of 34 minutes).
In 2021, travel times worsened compared to 2020, but were still better than the pre-pandemic levels. The 13-mile trip from Tukwila to Bellevue in the GP lanes on I-405 during the peak morning commute took an average of 31 minutes—more than two times the 13 minutes it would have taken to travel the same route at the posted speed limit, and 17 minutes below the reliable travel time of 48 minutes. In contrast, the average travel time for the same commute in the HOV lane was 17 minutes (with a reliable travel time of 25 minutes).
The 23-mile trip from Bellevue to Everett in the GP lanes on I-405 during the peak evening commute took an average of 35 minutes—12 minutes longer than it would have taken to travel the same route at the posted speed limit, and 13 minutes below the reliable travel time of 48 minutes. The average travel time for the same commute in the HOV lane was 26 minutes (with a reliable travel time of 31 minutes).
In 2020, due to the statewide response to COVID-19 there was significant decrease on both GP lanes and HOV compared to 2019. The 13-mile trip from Tukwila to Bellevue in the GP lanes on I-405 during the peak morning commute took an average of 25 minutes—almost double the 13 minutes it would have taken to travel the same route at the posted speed limit, and 15 minutes below the reliable travel time of 50 minutes. In contrast, the average travel time for the same commute in the HOV lane was 16 minutes (with a reliable travel time of 26 minutes).
Similarly, the 23-mile trip from Bellevue to Everett in the GP lanes on I-405 during the peak evening commute took an average of 31 minutes—8 minutes longer than it would have taken to travel the same route at the posted speed limit, and 20 minutes below the reliable travel time of 51 minutes. The average travel time for the same commute in the HOV lane was 25 minutes (with a reliable travel time of 29 minutes).
In 2019, the 13-mile trip from Tukwila to Bellevue in the GP lanes on I-405 during the peak morning commute took an average of 44 minutes—more than three times the 13 minutes it would have taken to travel the same route at the posted speed limit, and 18 minutes below the reliable travel time of 62 minutes. In contrast, the average travel time for the same commute in the HOV lane was 20 minutes (with a reliable travel time of 30 minutes), and the average travel time via transit was 28 minutes (with a reliable travel time of 38 minutes).
Similarly, the 23-mile trip from Bellevue to Everett in the GP lanes on I-405 during the peak evening commute took an average of 46 minutes—twice the 23 minutes it would have taken to travel the same route at the posted speed limit, and 15 minutes below the reliable travel time of 61 minutes. The average travel time for the same commute in the HOV lane was 30 minutes (with a reliable travel time of 41 minutes), and the average travel time via transit was 84 minutes (with a reliable travel time of 100 minutes).
In 2018, the 13-mile trip from Tukwila to Bellevue in the GP lanes on I-405 during the peak morning commute took an average of 42 minutes—more than three times the 13 minutes it would have taken to travel the same route at the posted speed limit, and 14 minutes below the reliable travel time of 56 minutes. In contrast, the average travel time for the same commute in the HOV lane was 21 minutes (with a reliable travel time of 32 minutes). Transit travel times were not collected for 2018 due to a pause in publication.
Similarly, the 23-mile trip from Bellevue to Everett in the GP lanes on I-405 during the peak evening commute took an average of 49 minutes—more than twice the 23 minutes it would have taken to travel the same route at the posted speed limit, and 14 minutes below the reliable travel time of 63 minutes. The average travel time for the same commute in the HOV lane was 30 minutes (with a reliable travel time of 40 minutes). Transit travel times were not collected for 2018 due to a pause in publication.