Traffic tips for tulips - advice from WSDOT

Skagit Valley tulips 2010
Photo by Steven H. Robinson

Tulips are coming into bloom in the Skagit Valley which usually brings a corresponding boom in northbound I-5 traffic. This year's Tulip Festival runs from April 1 - 30. On a nice weekend, it's not uncommon for traffic backups to form on I-5 between Burlington and Mount Vernon. The exits in Mount Vernon get really jammed up. You might want to use SR 20 (exit 230) instead. The exit has longer on- and off-ramps and two lanes in each direction heading toward the tulip fields. Be sure to check our Burlington/Mount Vernon traffic cameras before you go, too!