Travel times
Current Tacoma travel times
How long the drive is taking right now on the routes WSDOT monitors around Tacoma, next to the typical time for the same trip.
Travel times published for Tacoma-area routes
Traffic behind those numbers
Flow readings explain why a travel time is high.
Planning a Tacoma day around drive times
Tacoma is compact once you are off the freeway: downtown, the museum district and the waterfront are close together, and most visitor driving is on I-5, I-705 and SR 16. If the numbers above are high, it is usually faster to park once downtown and explore on foot than to move the car between neighbourhoods.
Traffic, camera, travel time, mountain pass, road weather, toll and ferry information is supplied by the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). Tacoma Trekker is an independent Tacoma visitor guide and is not WSDOT, the Washington State Patrol or any official transportation agency. Conditions change quickly; check the official WSDOT page before you drive.
Travel time questions
- Where do these drive times come from?
- WSDOT calculates travel times for a set of monitored routes and publishes the current time alongside a typical time. Tacoma Trekker shows only the routes WSDOT publishes; it never estimates a drive time itself.
- Why is my route missing?
- WSDOT monitors specific corridors rather than every possible trip. If your route is not in the list, WSDOT does not publish a travel time for it, so nothing is shown rather than a guess.
- How should I plan around these numbers?
- Treat the current time as the freeway portion of your trip only. City streets, parking, event traffic near the Tacoma Dome, and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge toll plaza all add time that a highway travel time does not include.
More traveler information
- Traveler Info hubEverything transportation, in one place
- Tacoma traffic & road alertsI-5, SR 16, I-705 conditions and highway alerts
- Tacoma traffic camerasWSDOT camera snapshots by route
- Mountain passesStatewide pass conditions and restrictions
- Road weatherRoadside station readings near Tacoma
- Washington State FerriesTerminals, bulletins and sailing space
- TollsHow Washington tolling works, with current rates
- Advanced & commercial travel infoBorder waits, clearances, truck restrictions
Things to do once you arrive
- Things to do in TacomaMuseums, waterfront, parks and attractions
- Where to eat & drinkRestaurants, coffee, breweries and teriyaki
- What's happeningToday and this week in Tacoma
- DistrictsDowntown, Ruston Way, Point Ruston, Tacoma Mall and more
- Build My TrekTurn the day into a route you can follow
- Mount Rainier guidePlan the drive from Tacoma to the park