Oh I love this question. I have lived in Mukilteo, since 1987. It is the most centrally located community on the map. I can be in Everett, Bellevue, or Downtown Seattle within 30 minutes. Ok, not in peak traffic times, but during many times of the day..I do a considerable amount of business downtown. We are near several transportation hubs and the Sounder train has just begun service to downtown. You ask the eastside vs the westside. Well, I am a west side advocate, and unashamed to tell people so. Remember there is only so much room between 1-5 and the water. Everyone east has to come west to get to I-5. Thats a lot of land, and more traffic lights than you want to work your way through. Besides the sun always sets on the west..

I lived in Mukilteo for 4 months when I first moved to Washington State and hated it. The traffic was horrible. They have since fixed the interchange. It was also just too far away from everything. We had car problems and needed to take a taxi to the car rental and couldn't find anyone out on that area. The ones we called actually laughed at us. I had to go to Lynnwood or Everett every time I needed ANYTHING more than groceries. We wound up buying in Edmonds and I never regretted it. We had a great view and I could get to the mall in less than 10 minutes. It has gotten better but traffic can still be bad especially when you get a little snow. I drove my son to a private school over there for a year and every time the weather got even a little bad it was a nightmare to get home and I was only trying to get to Edmonds.

the view makes it worth the pain! As others have indicated, there is traffic everywhere in this area!
Best of luck.

Barbara McMahon
Associate Broker
John L. Scott

Ok, looks like you've received plenty of advice on getting to and fro. I have lived in Mukilteo for 13 years, many of those while working in Bellevue. That in itself tells you how great a place Mukilteo must be to live, because that commute was horrid. I would'nt live anywhere else. Mukilteo to Mill Creek should not be an issue...Good Luck.

The local news paper describe a proposal to improve the ferry traffic in Mukilteo. Edmonds and Mukilteo is a little land locked, you do not have many choices. All major cities in the greater Seattle area have traffic problems.

Good news. All of the traffic to Mukilteo goes OVER Interstate 5. Close to 25% of the Mukilteo workforce works in Seattle. It takes 3 times as long to commute to Seattle than to drive to Mill Creek. Either 128th or 164th should provide you with the route you would probably take to the Mill Creek area. Check out some Internet maps to get a feel for the mileage and drive time.

Susan to Susan - I live and work in Mukilteo and wouldn't live anywhere else! There are many benefits of living in our community and I guess we sometimes just do not think of the traffic issue. Personally, I would not consider the drive from Mukilteo to Mill Creek a concern. Once you find the perfect place to call home, you will find all the little shortcuts to get to the Mill Creek area. We frequently scoot over there to the Towne Center for dinner or window shopping.

If you are not already working with an agent I would be pleased to meet with you- there are lots of great homes available in Mukilteo and what a great time to buy with favorable interest rates too! I would love the opportunity to earn your business! Susan

Susan, like some others have referenced, by living in Mukilteo and working in the Mill Creek area you would be going against the grain as far as traffic goes. Yes, traffic can be heavy, but where isn't it? The good thing is you have a few different options to take to get to and from. Taking 128th to I-5 and then taking the boeing access road which drops you right down on the Mukilteo speedway more than likely is your best bet. Anything I can do to help let me know. Hope that helps.

Susan,

As others have mentioned, 164th can get busy during the rush hour commutes. That block is from about 6:00AM to 8:00AM and then coming into town at 3:30PM to about 6:30PM. As Courtney mentioned however, you would be driving a reverse commute. In the morning most people are driving to the freeway and in the evening most are driving into Mill Creek. I have driven this rout multiple times during the rush hour. While it is busy, the commute you would be making would not be bad at all. Even when driving the commute direction I have found it not to be over whelming as others may feel just use a little bit of patience and you will get through it with no problem.

Now that being said, you can also take 128th across. To get there from Mukilteo though you would come up Beverly Park all the way up to 112th and then turn southeast onto airport road which then becomes 128th.

If it were me though, since I have come that far north, my preferred route to cross over I-5 is to turn onto 112th and just stay East on it till I cross over I-5 and get to the Bothell-Everett Hwy. Then you go south from there and you will then be in Mill Creek. This route is certainly a lot less busy since there is no onramp from the freeway. They are completing some widening construction on 112th where it crosses over I-5 but I have found there to be little to no slowdown.

I hope this helps. Mukilteo is a great place to live. I would recommend that you don't let the commute be the deciding factor in living in Mukilteo. I have had the chance to work with many people in Mukilteo that love where they are at.

Best Wishes!

North Mill Creek borders South Everett. You could likely just take 526 which becomes bothell-everett highway and drops you into North Mill Creek without getting on I-5 at all. There's no reason to go down to 164th St as that's South Mill Creek. There shouldn't be too much of a concern. Which part of mukilteo are you looking at? harbour pointe area or north of that? Cause another route you could do is go east on 112th ..which is a fairly "back-road" type and that would drop you right onto bothell-everett highway at Silver Lake which is just a hop and a skip to North Mill Creek.

Lots of inventory in mukilteo area. Make sure you wheel and deal really hard. Good deals are to be had there!

Hi Susan - Both of the over passes (164th and 128th) there cross over Mill Creek on top of the freeway... 164th is a nightmare - I always take the back roads to get in and around Mill Creek rather than go on 164th. If you are working in North Mill Creek, then it makes a lot of sense just to cross over at 128th or use the back roads.
Either way, though, if you are going to Mill Creek for work, it is sort of a reverse commute for you - you should be fine. It is the people living in Mill Creek trying to get to I-5 that have the issue... Let me know if you have other questions.

Good luck!