Friday, May 6, 2011

Expect Lots Of Traffic Around Montlake For Opening Boating Day Tomorrow




The annual Opening Day Boat Parade and Windermere Cup will be held all day tomorrow and that means the Montlake Bridge will be closed from 10am to about 4pm.

Races begin at 10:20am, followed by the Opening Day Boat parade, with the theme this year "Salish Sea Treasures" at noon.

Rowing teams this year are from Stanford University, Cambridge University and University of Oklahoma with more than 700 rowers competing.

About 10,000 people are expected to attend the event according to SDOT (Seattle Department of Transportation). So there will be congestion in the vicinity and around the University of Washington.

In addition, the westbound off-ramp from Highway 520 to Montlake Boulevard will be closed along with the left-turn lane on the eastbound off-ramp of 520 to Montlake. 

Here is the Opening Day Regatta and Parade Schedule:

8:00 AM – Official Parade Boats start to assemble in Portage Bay
8:45 AM – U.S. Navy Band Concert, SYC Lawn
8:50 AM – Commissioning Ceremony, SYC Lawn
9:40 AM – Parade Course Closed to ALL Boat Traffic
9:50 AM – Official VIP Boats parade to moorage
10:05 AM – Dragon Boat Exhibition Race
10:20 AM – First Crew Race starts
11:30 AM – Last Crew Race starts
11:45 AM – All Crew Shells parade back through parade course
12:00 PM – Official Parade begins
2:30 PM – End of Official Parade (approximately)
3:00 PM – Parade Course open to marine traffic (approximately)
4:00 PM – Montlake Bridge resumes normal operations
4:30 PM – Army Drill Platoon, SYC Lawn
6:00 PM – Trophy presentations, SYC Lawn
6:30 PM – Closing Ceremonies and Lowering of Colors

(photo courtesy of UW Atheletic site)


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