KITTITAS COUNTY – Kirk Holmes conquers 71 miles and a mountain pass each morning, most of the year leaving his home near Ellensburg before dawn.
He says waking early to make the commute is no problem: “I grab a cup of coffee, and away I go.”
To others, though, driving upward of an hour one way – over ice, and through snow and sleet in winter – climbing to an elevation of 3,022 feet and adding thousands of miles to a vehicle every year might sound crazy.
But for more than 1,000 Kittitas County residents, crossing the Cascade Range to get to work is no more nuts than sitting bumper-to-bumper in a sea of concrete somewhere on the west side.
“Freeway miles are not hard miles,” Holmes says. “It beats stop-and-go.”
And usually, Snoqualmie Pass on I-90 is no problem – unless the snow kicks up; the congestion’s nothing compared with the strangling traffic of I-5 or I-405.
“The traffic on I-90 runs smoothly most of the time,” says Mike Westbay, communications manager for the state Department of Transportation’s south central region.
The average daily traffic count for I-5 at the Ship Canal Bridge is about 284,000 vehicles, according to state transportation figures. On I-405 in south Bellevue, it’s about 191,500. But on I-90 at Snoqualmie Pass, it’s only about 27,000.
“It’s a piece of cake,” says the 42-year-old Holmes, director of public works for the city of Snoqualmie. He’s been scaling the summit to get to work for more than four years. “You wave at people. You don’t know them, but you see them every day.”
More than 1,250 people commute from Kittitas to King counties, according to 2000 census information.
The number is likely higher now, because in the past four years, Kittitas County’s population has grown faster than all but three other counties in Washington state. According to the most recent estimates released by the state Office of Financial Management in April, an estimated 35,800 people live here. That’s up 7.3 percent – an estimated 2,438 people – from 2000.
And the commuter count is sure to soar as the still-under-construction Suncadia resort development fills in another 3,785 townhouses, condominiums and houses by 2013.
Today’s Kittitas commuters travel to jobs as nurses, flight attendants, pilots, contractors, real estate agents, software engineers, administrative assistants. Many work at Microsoft and Boeing.
Some are Seattle-area transplants, former big-city folk who gave up metropolitan living for a quieter existence in a tranquil place. They want to live where they play.
So for many, Kittitas County – away from the hustle and bustle, but close to the highway – seems the perfect place.
“You live here for the lifestyle,” explains Craig Nevil, a 51-year-old stockbroker and avid hunter and fisherman. He moved from Bellevue to Cle Elum in 1998 and works in downtown Seattle, making the 85-mile drive – one way – about four times a week in his four-wheel-drive pickup. “I plan on living here forever,” he says.
Like most Kittitas County residents, Nevil loves the lighter traffic, proximity to mountains, rivers and lakes, and seeing the stars in the night sky, where there’s no glare from city lights.
But there’s no sleeping in, either – some commuters wake up as early as 3:30 or 4:30 a.m. And not much of a night life – most go to bed around 9 or 10 p.m. to get ready to spend as much as three hours a day in a vehicle.
“The quality of life is worth the sacrifice of spending a little more time in the car,” says Todd Porter, a 39-year-old snowmobile enthusiast and Web developer for Microsoft. He and his wife Karen, 40, a Microsoft marketing manager, live halfway between Cle Elum and Easton. They moved from Seattle in 1999 and often make the 82-mile drive to work together.
“The first year out here, I thought we made the biggest mistake,” says Karen, who wasn’t accustomed to driving in snow and missed her favorite bagel shop, city shopping and the variety of restaurants on the west side.
Here, even if commuters were to stay up late, entertainment options are limited. And it’s a struggle to find a restaurant with a kitchen that stays open past 10 p.m.
On the plus side, although the average price of a home is on the rise in Kittitas County (up about 16 percent from last year), it’s still cheaper to buy a house here than King County. According to figures from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service, the average price of a home in King County is $292,975, compared to $168,700 in Kittitas County.
But Kittitas wages are lower, too. The average annual income in King County is $47,185, according to figures from the state Employment Security Department. In Kittitas County, it’s $23,283
“There’s not a ton of good-paying jobs,” says Ron Sweigard, 41, a firefighter who’s worked for the city of Kent for 19 years. To work in the same capacity closer to home in Cle Elum, “would be a big pay cut,” he says.
So Sweigard drives 96 miles one way to work, leaving by 5:15 a.m. in winter in order to grab a latte, avoid semi-trucks departing Ellensburg and arrive at the station on time for his 24-hour shift, which starts at 8 a.m.
“It’s a little bit of a compromise,” says Sweigard, who moved eight years ago from Federal Way. But, “we didn’t want to raise a family on that side.”
The drive’s not so bad most of the year. It’s a straight shot on I-90 over the mountains to downtown Seattle, where many Kittitas commuters work.
Once the temperature drops, though – like it’s sure to soon – braving the pass can be a harrowing experience. Or a harebrained undertaking, Or both, depending on who you ask.
The pass can close, too, leaving commuters stranded in the Seattle-area, seeking hotel rooms and restaurants or the hospitality of friends and colleagues. It can also leave them stuck at home, unable to get to work.
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