Traveling From Missoula Mt to Tacoma Washington (live, safer)

[ksomers]

Hi

Im new to this so Im sorry if I screw it up. My family and I are traveling from Missoula Mt to Tacoma Washington next Saturday March 14th. I was wondering if you guys could tell me about the roads. Are they going to be snowpacked and icy? What mountain passes do I have to go thru? Are they pretty steep? Is it a terrible drive? We were just going to get on I-90 and stay on that road all the way, is that a good idea? Is there a better way? Do they take pretty good care of the interstate? Any and all information you could share would be great!! Thank you!!!!!

[rickers]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Just stay on I-90 until you get to the Snoqualmie and North Bend area, then go south-west on highway 18. That will take you through Auburn and straight into Tacoma. You will have to go over 3 mountain passes. Lookout Pass, Forth of July Pass and Snoqualmie Pass. Keep your eye on the weather reports for storms. You'll be fine, just be careful.

[Redraven]

Or, you could stay on I-90 to Seattle, then take I-5 south.
Hwy 18 was once considered one of the deadliest highways in the country. They have done a considerable amount of work on it since then, but the last time I drove it, it was still, to say the least, "interesting".
My personal preference is to stay on the freeway. When you get to Seattle, you have to pay close attention to be sure you are in the correct lane. It can be very easy to end up downtown or in West Seattle if you don't!

[mark6052]

I drive that way alot. they have worked on 18 and alot of it is now 4-lane. they still have some work todo on tiger, the little pass(hill) except for morning rush, its safer and quicker than going all the way in to hyway 5. just my 2cts.

[rickers]

Who wants to deal with getting any near Seattle unless you want to stop there for something.

[ksomers]

lol, actually i love love seattle, well any big city actually (im going crazy in montana) so we may go the alternate route.. if i can talk the fam into it. thank you guys so much for your help, especially about the passes!!!

[rickers]

I lived in Tacoma for about ten years. If you move to Tacoma from Montana, just give it time and you may start to miss Montana big time. Tacoma is a very scary place in some ways. When The skinheads started getting run out of North Idaho I think many of them may have ended up in Tacoma. Do a web search on "hate Groups" I think you will find more of them in Washington than in Montana. There are several human rights groups who track the hate groups their activities and where they are located.

[Kalliope]

I, too, will be moving to Tacoma later this month from the East Coast and will be stopping in Missoula for the night. Mapquest says it'll take 7.5 hours, but if I include stopping for gas and food, I'm going to add another 30 minutes to an hour to that. However, one of my friends who moved from Western WA to IA a couple of years ago told me it'll take longer than what Mapquest says, due to the mountains in Northern ID and MT. Has anyone made this trek, and how long did it take?