Alaskan Way Viaduct - Seattle, WA - U.S. Route 99 - The Pacific Highway on Waymarking.com

The Alaskan Way Viaduct is an elevated section of Washington's section of 99 that runs along the Elliot Bay waterfront of Seattle's downtown and industrial areas. Built towards the end of U.S. 99's lifetime in 1953, this two level highway allowed cars to avoid the surface street traffic through downtown Seattle.

Views from the freeway are incredible, however its location on the fill area of Seattle waterfront makes it susceptible to earthquake damage. The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake destroyed the similarly designed Cypress Street Viaduct in Oakland, California and many people were killed when the top level collapsed onto the lower portion. Washington's Nisqually earthquake, 6.8 on the MMS, damaged the viaduct and semi-annual inspections have discovered continuing settlement damage. Experts have given the viaduct a 1:20 chance of being shut down during to an earthquake in the next decade.

Currently replacement options are being argued over and at this point the state has not decided how to proceed. The replacement choices are either a tunnel, to open up the waterfront area, rerouting on surface streets (congestion issue is a problem) and rebuilding the existing viaduct in the same location. Currently the viaduct carries up to 110,000 vehicles daily.

For more information link to the Washington State Department of Transportation's Webpage about the viaduct.

State: Washington Nearest City: Seattle Type: Structure - bridge or other historic infrastructure

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