Excuse me while I try on some sea pirate talk for Fleet Week:

Honk and ahoy! Here we be, mateys, givin' you fair warnin' about t' bridge lifts and traffic jams for this week's arrival o' the might 2015 Rose Festival Fleet.

Avast! That's a bit gimicky. Back to modern English, the lingo not the band.

Let's get to the facts: One vessel - the HMCS Oriole sailing ship -- is set to arrive with lifts of the Broadway, Steel, Burnside and Morrison bridges at 3 p.m. Tuesday. The rest of the ships are scheduled to arrive in the beating heart of Wednesday and Thursday's evening commutes.

When the ships arrive Wednesday and Thursday between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., the Broadway, Steel and Burnside drawbridges will reach for the sky multiple times.

Here are five things you should know about the bridge lifts:

1. Each lift is expected to create about 20 minutes of traffic delays for people trying to cross the Willamette River - and will definitely cause chain reactions for commuters trying to get home on the freeways.

2. The lifts will also cause system-wide delays for TriMet bus and MAX riders, especially since the Steel Bridge is one of the region's mass transit nerve centers.

3. Bus lines that cross the Broadway, Burnside, Morrison and Steel bridges may also experience delays up to 20 minutes. Some buses may be detoured. TriMet has prepared a detailed, route-by-route list of what to expect.

Buses that travel across the Broadway, Steel and Burnside bridges - lines 4, 8, 12, 17, 19, 20, 35, 44 and 77 - will also experience delays as they detour to other bridges. Consider taking other bus lines that cross the river only using the Hawthorne and Ross Island bridges - lines 6, 9, 10, 14, 15, 33 and 66.

Riders who can't be late to a destination should leave about 30 minutes early and allow extra time.

4. The ships will depart Monday between 6 and noon. Yep, that includes the morning commute.

5. Check out my secrets to getting around the Rose Fleet traffic jams from a couple years ago. As far as I can tell, they're still good.

Do you have your own tips? Share them below.

Here's a time-lapse video by Portland's Luke Robinson of the fleet arriving in 2012:

-- Joseph Rose

503-221-8029

jrose@oregonian.com

@josephjrose