Dallas To Seattle

[Thrashx]

What is the fastest and safest route? Will be departing Dallas on Wed Jan 3rd and would like to arrive in Seattle by Friday. Any tips appreciated?

Driving front wheel drive sedan so I'd like to avoid the rockies.

[AZBuck]

Welcome aboard the RoadTrip America Forums!

It's just a shade over 2200 miles from Dallas to Seattle, and that is far more than one should try to cover in just three days. Even four days would be pushing it, and still wouldn't leave any time for weather or traffic related delays. Also, there is simply no reasonable way between those two cities that avoids the Rockies, although I'm not sure why you think driving a front wheel drive sedan precludes such a route. For what it's worth, your simplest, all-interstate route would be I-35/I-70/I25/I-80/I-84/I-82/I-90. But, while it is still too far out to predict the weather for your trip accurately, rain, snow and freezing rain are in the forecast for the northern Rockies and Cascades during you proposed drive time.

On the other hand, you could stay south of the highest portions of the Rockies and not turn north until you hit the west coast. Such a routing would follow US-287/I-40/CA-58 and I-5 to Seattle. While this would let you avoid the 'worst' of the mountains and weather, it would add another 300 miles to your trip for a total of 2500, absolutely NOT doable in three days!

AZBuck

[Thrashx]

Thanks for the feedback! I plan to depart sometime around 4AM Dallas time on the 3rd. Would love your feedback on what road hazards this time of year with the more Northern route? More interested in the faster route. Since the Delta is around 300 miles - wouldn't that mile spread wash out since the shorter route has more weather concerns/delays vs. the longer but better weather route?

[AZBuck]

A few extra hours on your first day's drive is not going to make that big a difference. For comparison, your proposed trip is roughly the equivalent of driving from San Diego to Jacksonville. You are not going to make this drive in three days. The hazards on the shorter, northern route are as I noted. Snow and freezing rain are currently forecast. That might change, but still I'd say your chances of running into serious weather that will cause you to lose time are significantly better than 50/50. Yes, I think that it would likely be a wash between the extra time taken with weather delays and the extra time to drive the additional 300 miles. But in either case, budgeting less than 5 days for this trip is setting yourself up for a major disappointment when you don't make it or a serious safety problem when you try to.

AZBuck