Baseball fans find way to Mariners game despite I-5 closure



SEATTLE, Wash. - Due to construction closures on Interstate 5, WSDOT officials warned the public not to travel this weekend, if they didn't have to. But many Seattle Mariners fans found other ways to get into the city than by car.

Rebecca Archarese says the threat of traffic was almost enough of a reason for her and her family to forget they had tickets and skip the game. That is until she found out her Mariners tickets also allowed her to ride the Link light rail for free.

“The ease of just getting on a train and letting someone else take us down there and getting on and coming back is really a selling point,” said Archarese.

Archarese says she hasn't ridden the Link in years, but with how easy it was getting to the game, she might ride it more often.

While leaving the driving to someone else offers a lot of conveniences, for some, it did cause a few issues.

“Yeah, it was bad,” said Karan Minhas.

Minhas rode the Link with his dad for their first Mariners game of the season. He says he’s just happy they got on the train.

“We were kind of worried are we going to find parking or not,” he said.

Plenty of people had the idea to take the Link to the game, and at the station, cars filled the parking lot. Because of that Minhas and his dad had to leave their house early in the afternoon.

“We would never go this early,” he said.

Minhas says they must figure out what to do with all the free time before the game, but he says it’s definitely a better alternative than sitting in gridlock traffic.

The northbound section of I-5 will not open until Monday morning, and traffic is supposed to be bad throughout the rest of the weekend.