Driving On I-5 Northbound In 1983 (Tukwila, Seattle)

[@m8x425]

Note: The left lane is for passing. It's not for cruising, camping, or Canadian Semis

[@Trance88]

So many vans and early to mid-70's cars still on the road in '83. Very cool footage.

[@allglorytogod12]

Well, they were only 5-10 years old at the time.

[@DwakkaOu812]

Thank you for posting, I'm not sure how you're scoring these videos from the archives, nor do i care just keep them coming.

[@Ras7685]

The first thing I noticed is , people back then are still hogging the left lane. Even the camera guy is driving in the fast lane.....and will not get over !

[@jej2371]

LOVE THIS! If like to Thank whoever has the mind to film and preserve this! History isn't always about the big events in life, sometimes the mundane things like a Sunday Drive can really connect you to the past ❤️

[@Kevvyfr]

I agree with you a lot! I’ve been trying to find photos of my city of Federal Way in the 80s for a while and here I am!

[@Dragon-Believer]

Yes, but he's driving slow in the fast lane. What a douche.

[@unenslaver1333]

I thought for sure that it was a Sunday. That's a Wednesday. I can only try to get imagine how many times I've driven that route. I'd almost forgotten about 55mph and Empire Way. 1/10th traffic volume. Get out of the left lane!

[@compdude100]

Wow, the Seattle skyline has changed so much since the early-80s!

[@paulcerveny9384]

These are great! I'd love to see 516 from Covington to Maple Valley in the 1970s. It has changed so much since I was a kid. Good job!

[@robertmichalscheck3072]

I lived by 516 and Hwy 18 in the early to mid 70s

[@RudyG210]

we need the best of 80s music to watch this with.

[@nickcook2775]

Tune into a classic rock station on the radio for added immersion I recommend swapping between 102.5 KZOK and 99.9 whenever there are ads (if you are in the area where the footage was filmed) Be warned: “Cars for kids” is still the most annoying advertisement I’ve ever heard and they still run it

[@KM-px8cs]

Thank you for posting this! (From a WA native :) )

[@timothycook2917]

My dad took me on a road trip from California to Seattle in 1983, then over to Bremerton to see the battleship Missouri and then to Victoria, Friday Harbor, and then back home. Not much has changed except the style of cars and a few road signs

[@LawnMowerFan]

I’ve never watched videos even remotely like this and somehow it’s popped up in my recommended 😂 looks very peaceful hope life is treating you well these days

[@h3110itsm3]

Something that strikes me is how much slower people were driving back then. I almost though the video was slightly slowed down, but 22 miles in 24 minutes is just about 54mph. Which makes sense for the early 80's and that the camera is going slightly slower than the rest of traffic. Crazy, it looks like slo-mo compared to today.

[@acenda-r2d2]

I was a kid in the back of a station wagon on this highway in '83. That station wagon had about as much room as our basement. We wore 'seat belts' when leaving the house, but didn't have to wear them on the highway. So cool. Like an airplane my Dad used to say "Ladies and gentlement, boys and girls, welcome aboard flight 486 to Seattle, you're welcome to unbuckle your seat belt and move about the cabin"

[@wirisqueiroz3648]

So wonderful to watch how things were then and now. Thanks for posting. 😉

[@Jeff98177]

Just crossing into Shoreline. I wish it had gone past Mountlake Terrace, they've made so many changes there and it'd be nice to see what it looked like back then.

[@VerticalhorizonXL]

Same! Glad there was at least a tiny amount of Shoreline footage... I moved there for a year starting a few months into the pandemic after living in Houston, Texas my whole life. Live in Lake City in Seattle now just nearby Shoreline, and back before 1995 it was just called unincorporated King County I think.

[@dankpal]

this is the 3rd video i've watched so far from this channel and i just realized that playing at 2x speed is basically the same speed at which you would drive these highways today "the world went and got itself in a big damn hurry"

[@theeecandlemaker2197]

55mph mandated speed limit, a certain Sammy Hagar song comes to mind, before then highways were 75mph.

[@warsame2245]

wow so much space, lots and lots of empty lands that is now occupied. I saw my high school (Cleveland) and boy did it bring back memories.

[@robertjonas6216]

Hardly any 18-wheelers compared to today! (I’m a trucker)

[@juliafleming7538]

When you could go from Southcenter to Northgate in TWENTY minutes!!! Back in the good ole days!!

[@okay_then8472]

This guy has been left lane hogging since 1983.

[@jessicamankinskeithswife9426]

Thank you love bug for the Video!!! I like to go down South to South King County This is where my parent met. 😋😋😍😍😘😘🥰🥰

[@SounderBruce]

Seems to have been from when the first HOV lanes were added to I-5. Fascinating to see how many state-name shields and extra signs with Vancouver B.C. were around back then.

[@m8x425]

long before that

[@JonathanLedbetter]

So cool! I would love to see any videos of I-5, I-205 and SR-14 in the Vancouver area, especially for the interstates southbound.

[@c-meezy765]

I drive through the Tukwila portion almost daily. Really cool to see what it looked like in the past!

[@worldfamousjason]

Look at that low traffic volume. And this was a Wednesday!

[@wolfgangweimer737]

The only difference between then and today is the ruts in the road are deeper now and the cars are slightly smaller.

[@EssenceofPureFlavor]

And there's way more graffiti.

[@harryjacoby5326]

Do you or the state archives have any footage of the original I-90 floating bridge prior to its sinking in 1990?

[@highwayvideos3434]

I do not but the State Archives should have it. They are hoping to get their collection of videos uploaded and online to their website as early as next year.

[@harryjacoby5326]

Can you get it from the state and upload it in the near future?

[@highwayvideos3434]

@@harryjacoby5326 I spoke with the State Archives about obtaining some more videos after this current batch, but it likely won't be until Summer at the earliest before they're uploaded. The entire process can take a couple months.

[@harryjacoby5326]

@@highwayvideos3434 When you do get another batch, make sure to ask for one of I-90 prior to 1990. Thank you!!

[@jr98664yt]

Can’t wait to see more. When I worked at WSDOT, I believe our online access to SR View only went back to 1999 or so.

[@erikbratt684]

Pretty cool to see! Been here all my life and this was three years before I was born. But massive left lane camper. That would have been me in the '67/'68 Firebird blowing right by.

[@thisissentimentalillness]

Do you guys have anything with SR 161, south into Graham or even further? That area has changed SO much, it'd be amazing to see.

[@highwayvideos3434]

Yes, set to be posted in the next week or two.

[@casmatori]

Even in the 80s there were left lane hogs

[@DrCruel]

This was way back before all the blue tents.

[@jacuzzi8898]

Anything upcoming for I-5 through lynnwood and Everett?

[@highwayvideos3434]

Yes! Should be soon.

[@albertosantos548]

Check out all of them classic cars.

[@johnberry8367]

When did Seattle change the standard double armed streetlights on its freeways, to the arch armed streetlights?

[@KB-hn3tx]

Sometime during the early-mid 1970s, but the rounded-arched streetlights started popping up in the mid 1980s, particularly in the suburbs.

[@GSheltonJr]

WA without traffic. Thats how I remember it as a child

[@retrogameraaron4778]

Love it! Do you have any old videos of driving through Everett or Marysville?

[@highwayvideos3434]

I do not, but the archives does and they will hopefully get some uploaded onto their website.

[@retrogameraaron4778]

@@highwayvideos3434 Do the archives currently have any videos at all that are available for download?

[@highwayvideos3434]

@@retrogameraaron4778 They've uploaded a few onto their official Facebook page.

[@KB-hn3tx]

Back in the days when things were more lax, hence many parked cars on the shoulders on either side. It's a no-no today, particularly in urban areas.

[@dude4173]

Looks like left lane camping has always been a thing here in seattle

[@jasoncarpp7742]

Fascinating!

[@GenX_US_Marine]

2:09 that's my exit I get off for work every single day.

[@michaeltipton5500]

Wow where's all the traffic. Seattle looks nothing like this now.

[@e.s.morgan0212]

I’m surprised I see no changes at all these last years for I-5 really

[@loge10]

Are you kidding me? Unless you're only talking about the structure itself, and not the traffic...

[@clouseaux]

Dig that Firebird @ 15:51

[@crystalrose2331]

This is great. Good old days when you didn't need to worry about getting shot while driving to work in the morning 🙃

[@NS-lz6jh]

Plenty of space on the road and they are driving slower. I miss that. Also things were simple.

[@Brandon-wo2tz]

As much as I love the video, it is sad to watch. I moved to Seattle in 2002 and left for Spokane in 2019. The Puget Sound area today, from what I've been told, is overcrowded, very congested, and traffic is beyond belief. I wish we could go back to the good old days when Seattle was a secret and no one wanted to live there. I guess after the "big one" happens no one will want to live there.

[@sliturarse]

Wow, i was 9 years old at the time. I see Frederick & Nelson.

[@ceemillerVtt]

How did you see Fredrick & Nelson from the freeway? it was on 5th Avenue and Pine Street.

[@lightningbuster]

A lot of street lights that have since been removed. WSDOT likes to do that for some reason.

[@MF-kj7rn]

Is this your own footage, I mean did you recorded it?

[@highwayvideos3434]

This was filmed by the Washington State Department of Transportation.

[@MF-kj7rn]

@@highwayvideos3434 thanks for the info

[@Ideo7Z]

Traffic is so mild and the driving is so much more sedate and civilzed. It's gotten worse in 2022.

[@EssenceofPureFlavor]

Speeds aren't what causes wrecks. Speed differentials are. That's why the national speed limit was repealed. It didn't accomplish any of the things it was supposed to and in some cases actually led to *increased* fatalities.

[@markosp]

i was 4 when this video was made

[@jonasbrothersrockist]

My older sister was born in 1983.

[@zerox615]

People actually knows how to drive back then. Now, everyone thinks they are dominic toretto......

[@brianmassey5897]

Remember it then, drove many times but did I see that right, cop didn't use turn signal? Lol, use to be a nice drive, not nowadays for sure.

[@thecomputerwhiz1]

Cars looked so much cooler back then. Now everything just looks like blobs and eggs on giant wheels.

[@casmatori]

Cars lasted a lot longer back then. Cars from the 60s were still going strong. Nowadays cars from the late 90s are all gone because they were shit.

[@sonhuynh8222]

Clear open roads !

[@eagle14410]

Ramps to Nowhere!

[@nickcook2775]

Man, I-5 had heavy traffic 40 years ago? I think that the Seattle freeway transportation infrastructure network might be condemned to eternal damnation if it is almost exactly the same… …and we’re about to start sending people to the moon again.

[@MF-kj7rn]

Just a few imported vehicles back then...

[@user-cf1se1kk5x]

You’re doing about 30 in the fast lane lol

[@oshi8994]

I see that you are camping in the left lane, just like they do today! 😁

[@yurival1]

This was a traffic jam back then 😂

[@mybluesaway6856]

Kingdome!!!

[@Golfnut_2099]

My main question is... Who was the idiot who designed a freeway that goes from 4 lanes to 2 lanes as it passes under a convention center through downtown Seattle?

[@jimmullenberg]

Can not move over out of left lane!

[@Ruthlesscoach]

Imagine a tesla ripping through there in 83 lol they'd freak

[@bobscott7440]

He almost hit someone getting out of the left lane, which is a left turn only lane to the Seneca St exit. Not exactly good driving.

[@falsificationism]

Anyone else annoyed that this person stayed in the left lane the ENTIRE time going just a touch slower than the rest of traffic? 🤬

[@donswier]

The scarcity of "imports" is shocking. Of course, the Germans and Asians all now have US factories like Tesla, and the "domestics" send us Chinese-made SUVs with their taxfunder-paid bailouts (Buick Envision - I'm looking at you)

[@mir8001]

Chevrolet

[@brownwrench]

Left lane camping

[@dougsmith6346]

this guy needs to get out of the left lane. Driving slower than everyone.

[@jr98664yt]

For the record, this is intentional. It’s a WSDOT vehicle documenting the left-hand shoulder. It would be much harder to video tape from any other lane. Note how late the lane chances occurs at the Seneca St exit, for instance.

[@thateffinguy2422]

He really should have got out of the left lane though 🤣