Seattle, WA Part 3: Stadiums, Mercer Is., Bellevue, UW
Welcome to Part 3 of our Seattle tour!
As we continue along I-5 north, we are quickly approaching downtown Seattle. However, before that, let's check out the areas south of downtown. We will make a couple stops here, then we'll take a scenic loop around the east side of the Seattle metropolitan area, up to the University of Washington, and then finally, loop back around to downtown.
South of Seattle's downtown core is a large industrial area and the Port of Seattle's Duwamish Waterway seaport facility. The Port of Seattle owns and operates Seattle/Tacoma International Airport, as well as Seattle's seaports. Seattle's seaports handle approximately 2 million containers each year, making it the 14th largest container port in the United States and the 57th largest in the world. It is one of the primary container ports on the west coast of the United States, being the 4th largest on the US west coast in terms of containers handled, behind only the Ports of Oakland, Los Angeles and Long Beach.
This area is also home to Starbucks' world headquarters. Starbucks is one of the many major companies that call the Seattle area home.
Just south of downtown, I-5 meets I-90 an east-west interstate highway that stretches from here all the way across the country to Boston, Massachusetts. Interestingly enough, I-90 starts near Safeco Field, home to Major League Baseball's Seattle Mariners, and ends near Fenway Park, home to Major League Baseball's Boston Red Sox. We'll be taking I-90 toward Spokane in a little bit. But for now, let's take Exit 164A to Edgar Martinez Drive.
Located along Edgar Martinez Drive is Safeco Field, the home of the Mariners. Safeco Field seats 47,476 for baseball and features a retractable roof so that games can be played when it rains, which it so often does in Seattle. The ballpark is also home to the Mariners Hall of Fame, and the Mariners Team Store.
North of Safeco Field is CenturyLink Field, home to the current NFL Superbowl Champions, the Seattle Seahawks, and the Seattle Sounders Major League Soccer team. CenturyLink Field seats 67,000 for NFL football games and 38,300 for MLS soccer matches (the upper seating sections of the stadium are closed for soccer matches).
Now let's head east toward the suburb of Bellevue. We'll take I-90 East. I-90 features Express Lanes for 2 person+ carpools and buses.
Just east of downtown Seattle, I-90 enters the first of a series of tunnels. There are also variable speed limit message signs that can be changed electronically to reflect real-time road conditions. Washington state is one of a few US states to currently use variable speeds on freeways. Variable speeds are currently used on this stretch of I-90, as well as I-5 around downtown Seattle. The maximum posted speed on this stretch of I-90 is 60 mph, but the speed limit can be lowered if need-be, based on road conditions.
As we exit the first I-90 tunnel, we approach Lake Washington and the Lake Washington Floating Bridge. The bridge actually consists of three different bridges, the Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge, the Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge, and a parallel 2-lane bridge in between.
Currently the Lacey V. Murrow Memorial bridge serves the six general purpose lanes of I-90. The Homer M. Hadley Memorial Bridge serves I-90's six Express Lanes. The bridge in between features two reversible lanes that increase capacity into Seattle during the AM peak hour, and outbound during the PM peak hour. Access to the reversible lanes are controlled by electronic signs and automated barriers that indicate to drivers which direction is open.
The bridges connect Seattle with Mercer Island.
On the other side of the bridge, I-90 enters another tunnel.
We are now in the city of Mercer Island, Washington, a Seattle suburb that is located on an island that shares the same name as the city. Mercer Island is a very affluent area. Many homes on the island have views of the surrounding Lake Washington. The median house sale price here is approximately $1,001,500, making it #209 on the list of most expensive ZIP codes in the United States.
From here, I-90 continues eastbound, crossing over Lake Washington again and leaving Mercer Island. Shortly after, I-90 meets I-405. We will take I-405 North to downtown Bellevue.
Bellevue is Seattle's second largest suburb (smaller in population to only Tacoma). Bellevue is home to 133,992 residents. It is also home to many technology companies, and is adjacent to the Seattle suburb of Redmond, home of Microsoft, Nintendo (North America) and Valve. Companies such as Boeing, HTC, Microsoft and eBay have significant offices and operations in Bellevue. Retail store Eddie Bauer is also headquartered in Bellevue.
Downtown Bellevue has many skyscrapers, especially for a city of it's size. It is also home to the Meydenbauer Center/Bellevue Convention & Performance Arts Center, Bellevue Square Mall, multiple retail stores and major hotels.
For the last decade or so, there's also been quite a condo boom in Bellevue, with many high end/luxury condominium towers built. The tallest are the Bellevue Towers (two twin buildings, each with 43 floors of residential condominiums) and Lincoln Tower One (42 floors), which features 148 luxury condominiums, retail and restaurant space, a movie theater, and a 337-room Westin Hotel. Lincoln Tower One is shown in the photo below. It is connected to Bellevue Square Mall via sky bridge.
Bellevue Square Mall is one of the largest shopping malls in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is currently anchored by Macy's, Nordstrom, Sears and JC Penney. Other stores include Tiffany's, Hugo Boss, Armani Exchange, Lego, and the Microsoft Store (I've always wondered, who really goes to the Microsoft store?). Restaurants located in the mall include PF Changs, The Cheesecake Factory, Red Robin and Ruth's Chris Steak House. Bellevue Square attracts over 16 million visitors annually. Adjacent to the mall are other retail stores such as Crate & Barrel, office space, a Hyatt Regency Hotel, as well as the Bellevue outlet for Din Tai Fung, a famous Taiwan-based restaurant, and a Lucky Strike Bowling alley.
The mall is shown in the photo below.
Adjacent to the Meydenbauer Center are The Shops at the Bravern, a high end shopping and retail center. It is anchored by a Neiman Marcus department store, currently the only Neiman Marcus store in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Other stores currently include Gucci, Hermes, Tory Burch, Jimmy Choo, Sur La Table, Louis Vuitton, and David Lawrence. Basically a place to go if you're a guy and want to buy something really nice and expensive for your female significant other... or run away as fast as you can. Either one.
This entry is getting a bit long, so let's start heading back to Seattle. We should check into our hotel in downtown Seattle soon anyways. We'll hop back on I-405 north and take SR-520 west back into Seattle. SR-520 crosses over Lake Washington and brings us to the University of Washington (aka "UW"), located on the west bank of the lake.
Here we see Husky Stadium, home to the University of Washington Huskies football team. The Huskies currently play NCAA Division I football and are part of the Pacific-12 Conference. The stadium can seat up to 70,138 fans. The Huskies team colors are Purple and Gold. Adjacent to the football stadium is the Nordstrom Tennis Center (home to the Huskies tennis teams) and the Husky Baseball and Softball Stadium.
Every year, the Huskies take part in The Apple Cup, a rivalry football game against the Washington State University Cougars. Uhh... wait a second... I just noticed that the seats at Husky Stadium are the wrong colors... the seats are Crimson... that's not right, they should be Purple and Gold....... the Cougars' colors are Crimson and Grey... oh boy... looks like someone has played a prank of epic proportions here and switched out all 70,138 Purple seats with Crimson ones... I wonder if SimCoug knows anything about this? 
Well, luckily for the die-hard Huskies fan who may suffer from a heart attack at the sight of seeing his or her beloved stadium decked out in Cougar Crimson, the UW School of Medicine and the UW Medical Center are literally a stones throw away...
The UW School of Medicine is currently ranked #10 in the nation in research and #1 in primary care and in rural medicine by US News & World Report.
To the north and west of the UW School of Medicine and the UW Medical Center is the main campus. UW was founded in 1861 and is one of the oldest universities on the US West Coast. It occupies over 500 buildings with over 20 million gross square footage of space.
US News & World Report currently ranks UW #42 overall in undergraduate academics, and #10 among public (non-private) US universities. For graduate programs, US News & World Report ranked UW #1 in primary care medicine and in nursing, #3 in social work, #3 in bio-statistics, #4 in library and information science, #5 in pharmacy, #6 in public health, #7 in statistics, computer science and education, #9 in research medicine, #20 in law and #21 in engineering.
Many of UW's students live in or around campus and the university has a prominent Greek System of fraternities and sororities, as well as many student organizations.
In the photo above, you can see the main part of UW's campus, as well as the I-5 bridges (one bridge serves the general purpose lanes, and the other serves the I-5 Express Lanes).
Also near the campus is an area with high density retail, restaurant, residential and office space which is part of the overall neighborhood that includes the UW campus and is also known as the U-District.
Hope you enjoyed this part of your tour!
Next up... downtown Seattle! Stay tuned!
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