I-- 5, Industrial District

In a city where you pay premium rates for parking spots, you can park for free on I-5. You actually don't have much of a choice, really, unless you're driving through the city between 1am and 3am on any given day of the week. The cool thing about I-5 is that part of the city was actually built over the freeway. This can also be a drawback on those rare sunny days when your eyes have to immediately adjust to darkness a couple of times within a 10-block stretch. I-5 moves north from downtown over Lake Union and Portage Bay via the Ship Canal Bridge. Another free parking lot. For those who want to bypass I-5 traffic through Seattle, though, you can take the Express Lanes, for when you absolutely, positively have to get somewhere sometime today. Onramps to the Express Lanes are few and far between, as are exits, so be careful about joining the traffic that actually achieves the speed limit if you have business in the U-District, because you'll be doubling back once you hit Shoreline.