45th St., (usually looking S., toward the city; This is the University District.) camera pointing south shows skyline; north view shows an overpass
	Roanoke St. n. view shows split
	Mercer St. (usually looking N.) (The Space Needle is 1 Km to the left of the image.) [ n. view has trees on hill to right; s. shows skyline on right]
	Pine St. [ n. view shows straight overpass; s. view shows 'L' shaped overpass in foreground]
	Yesler Way (usually looking S.) [ n. view shows skyscrapers clearly to left; s. view shows buildings in distance.]
	Holgate St. (S. of Downtown, near the Kingdome Stadium) [ N. view shows signs on right roadway]
	Spokane St. (S. of Downtown and N. of Boeing Field) [ n. view shows brewry on left (sometimes); s. view looks like mountainside highway; e. view shows several lower roadways; w. view shows Spokane St.]
	Alaska Way Viaduct at Ferry Terminal

This is a series of "live cam" shots showing I-5 from Spokane St to North of the Ship Canal. The arrangement is north to south, along a distance of 5 Km. The cameras are used by the Washington State Dept. of Transportation (WSDOT) to monitor traffic flow in conjunction with eddy current loop traffic detectors. The detectors in combination with the camera images are available at the links below.

The camera directions are not always clear from the written descriptions, especially at night.

If the pictures aren't current, then your browser is retrieving images from its buffers. To get current images in either this page, or in WSDOT's "live cam" images, you need to reload from the server. Netscape 2.0 does this by <shift>[Reload];, although <shift>[Images]; often works; otherwise clear the buffers. If someone knows a way for this page to request this in HTML, please email me.
"Live Cam" Series of Traffic past Boeing Field south of Downtown Seattle

the index

Suggested Alternate Routes through Seattle

"Live Cam" Series of Traffic through Downtown (you're here)

el Norte Downtown - north (toward Vancouver)

el Camino Real Downtown - south (toward Vancouver)

Les Isle de Mercer Downtown to Issaquah (without downtown)

Best viewed with Microsoft Explorer Downtown to Redmond, via 520

Renton to Redmond via 405

Seattle Traffic Flow the official page from WSDOT

Interesting Facts

• These cameras refresh web images every minute or so. They provide realtime images to WSDOT and I believe to the media.
• Seattle weather often is affected by the "Puget Sound Convergence Zone". You may be able to see rainy sections of roadway within a short distance of dry, sunny spots. This is the result of airflow from the north and south of the Olympic Mountain Range converging prior to passing through the Cascade Mountain Range. The Convergence Zone usually occurs in stable air and results in turbulent air (often in IFR flying conditions) with nearby smooth, clear air. It's kinda fun to fly through, but most Seattlites are only vaguely familiar with this and don't know it by name.
• Seattle's roadways cross Lake Washington (to Redmond and Mercer Island) with floating bridges. See I-90 and Redmond via 520 for the floating bridges.
• A downtown intersection is constructed above I-5. This is usually visible in the Pine St. image, above if the camera is facing south.
• The triple roadway thingies on the maps (not on this page) are reversable express lanes. They are a separate, divided roadway, which crosses the Washington Ship Canal on the bridge's lower level.

first posted at SCN 1997; last rev. 6-Jan-03
Page by Stan Protigal - Comments about this site: email me