SEATTLE – Among those expected to be the hardest hit during this month's I-5 construction crunch are commuters in West Seattle who will be cut off from two critical arties that connect them to the rest of Western Washington.

Colleen Lennon is one of those who are planning their commute for the next three weeks, navigating tangled roads of transit options.

Lennon has to get from West Seattle to Bellevue for work, but for the first two weekends of the I-5 crunch, there will be no access from the West Seattle Bridge to Northbound I-5 or to I-90.  In addition, the already crowded Alaskan Way Viaduct will be crammed with thousands more commuters trying to get around the I-5 mess.

Lennon has determined the best way to avoid driving will be to take a shuttle to the West Seattle Water Taxi, which will then take her to downtown Seattle.

From there, she picks up a bus to Bellevue where she will walk the last few blocks to work.

Conservatively, she estimates it will cost $8 dollars-per-day in fares and three-and-a-half hours round trip.  That's if everything goes her way.

"I'm totally dreading it," says Lennon.

Traffic planners concede there is no easy way around the mess, but they urge people not to stick to their old driving habits.

"Because every person that does that adds to the problem," says Laura Johnson of the Washington State Department of Transportation.

But even after all that exhaustive research, Lennon has decided to drive to Bellevue anyway, leaving public transportation as a last resort.

"It just doesn't seem that there's anything even reasonable," says Lennon.

WSDOT officials say the Water Taxi between West Seattle and downtown is adding one morning run and additional seating during the crunch.