page_title: Mount Baker Tunnel
section_title: Current
hierarchical_section_title: Mount Baker Tunnel / Configuration / Current
caption_attribution_description: English: "Seattle Portal to the Pacific", sign executed as a sculptural relief in cast concrete on east entrance to the Interstate 90 tunnel through the Mt. Baker neighborhood, as you come off of the I-90 floating bridge (the westbound bridge is officially the Homer Hadley Bridge) into Seattle, Washington.
context_page_description: The Mount Baker Tunnel or Mount Baker Ridge Tunnel carries Interstate 90 under the Mount Baker neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. It is actually a group of three tunnels that carry eight lanes of freeway traffic, plus a separate path for bicycles and pedestrians. The two originals are twin tunnel bores completed in 1940 and rehabilitated in 1993. The newest tunnel was built north of the original tunnels and opened in June 1989. The tunnel has a double-decked roadway with the bicycle/pedestrian path above the traffic lanes.
  The tunnel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The east portals of the tunnel, with murals titled Portal of the North Pacific designed by artist James FitzGerald, along with the Lacey V. Murrow Bridge, are an official City of Seattle landmark.
  The official length is 1,440 feet, though the perceived length while driving is closer to 1 kilometer because of a cut-and-cover "lid" between the western portal and the beginning of the actual tunnel under the Mount Baker ridge. The former west portal, now located well inside the tunnel, is no longer discernible and its two arch structures were removed during 1989–1993 modification work.
context_section_description: Upon completion of the Interstate 90 expansion program in the 1990s, the freeway capacity increased to three general-purpose lanes in each direction and two reversible HOV lanes.  Eastbound traffic uses the original tunnels.  Westbound traffic uses the upper deck of the northern new tunnel.  A two-lane reversible roadway uses the lower deck.  The reversible roadway served as express lanes for transit buses and carpools (2+ people) during peak commute periods until 2017.  The express lanes flowed westbound on weekday mornings and eastbound on weekday afternoons and evenings.  On weekends, the express lanes were open; traffic direction was variable depending on anticipated traffic volumes.  When the express lanes were open to eastbound traffic, single-occupant vehicles headed to Mercer Island are allowed to use the lanes per an inter-local agreement signed in 1976.
  Above the westbound traffic is the I-90 Trail tunnel. At 1,330 feet (410 m), it is the longest non-adapted trail tunnel in the world. On the western half, the trail emerges onto the lid and uses trails in Lid Park.
  In 2017, the Washington State Department of Transportation added a pair of high-occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV lanes) to Interstate 90 from Seattle to Bellevue, replacing the reversible express lanes. The express lanes were closed in June 2017 for the construction of the East Link light rail project, which will extend Link light rail service from Seattle to Bellevue and Redmond in 2023. On Mercer Island, WSDOT and Sound Transit are building direct access ramps to allow buses and HOVs to exit and enter I-90 from the HOV lanes.
caption: Eastern portal of 1989 tunnel
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