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No, Charles, you’re not. I too love the viaduct. Every grimy grey inch of it.
I drive it every day and I love it.
Such a beautiful picture and a deep sentiment, which I share. I’ve never understood the belief that Seattle ought to be well designed or somehow better. Why should it? I suppose you all need to minimize earthquake deaths, etc., but really all of that is vain. I miss the deadly old city.
I rarely agree with you, but in this case I do: I love, love, love the Viaduct. It’s fun to drive & the view is beautiful…
I also love the Viaduct. I wish it could just be retrofitted, although I understand that is unrealistic for blahblahblah reasons I’m not interested enough to pay attention to.
I’ll miss the old girl when she’s gone. She keeps it fresh, the viaduct, while you enjoy riding her, there’s always the tiny chance she’ll crush you to death.
It’s a love/hate relationship for me. I love driving on the upper roadway (and it’s been my commute to work the past three years), especially when the Olympics are visible, but I detest its noisy and hideously hulking presence when I’m below it.
Whether replaced by a tunnel or a surface street, it has to go.
Hi Charles,
Another viaduct fan here. Have you ever noticed the spray-painted ‘Hi Tom’ on a support post right near the first ave southbound exit? There was a similar ‘Hi Tom’ on a post for years, which was replaced by the current one. Does anyone know the circumstance for it? Driving by, it always makes me smile on my way places and is a personal bit of cheer…
i’ve loved the viaduct since the first time i visited seattle as a 15 year old
still do
no better place to drive like a maniac in the middle of the night
Indeed. Every time I drive on it I waffle between a heady mix of abject terror and awe at the beauty of our city and its surroundings.
I wish they would have just replaced it. No tunnel, no “surface option”. Just a new viaduct.
People who bitch about the noise of the viaduct will also hate the equivalent rumble of waves breaking on the Washington coastline. Damn Pacific Ocean!
I like it when I’m driving on it, or looking over it at Elliott Bay from above. But the thing is an abomination on the ground. And I currently walk below the viaduct every day.
If it was feasible to repair and maintain it indefinitely I would say do that, because no matter what replaces it after (or before) it comes down will be replacing a large swath of land at the center of our city and will take many years to settle in as anything other than an intrusion.It is similar to all the mixed-used housing going in everywhere–it’s better than most of what it replaces but when it’s new it’s generic and out of place.
I can’t imagine liking the tunnel as much as the viaduct, though I’ll like the post-viaduct Alaskan Way and the waterfront a lot more. And the walking portion of my current commute along Elliott, if I’m still working here after the viaduct is down, will be much more pleasant. On the other hand, with a tunnel the walking near the north and south portals will get a lot worse.
The viaduct is dying. We should mourn it, bury it, and move on. We shouldn’t be running around looking for a replacement, at least not just yet.
@12
Yeah, and the stench of the traffic fumes is just like an ocean breeze. Next you’ll be telling us if we squint hard enough it looks like the cliffs off Cape Flattery.
@6, the chance that she’ll crush you to death is the best part of the viaduct. It just makes you remember where we live.
And I fucking LOVE to run on that thing during the Torchlight Run!!!
no you won’t love it, when it falls on top of you or a loved one during the earthquake that is absolutely certain to hit seattle.
i’m never going to forget wondering if my brother just happened to be on the Nimitz freeway that day in 1989. thankfully, he wasn’t.
but a lot of other people weren’t that lucky.
this is a very very real danger folks.
Tear it down. Don’t replace it. We’ll adapt. Just like we would if it collapsed in an earthquake.
@17 – Totally agree.
I’m sure hellfire would await from certain posters for saying that if it wasn’t for the fact that everyone’s both tired of defending their position on this and that no one probably cares what I think.
I do have some fond memories of the viaduct—parking below it going to shows at the O.K. as a teenager, and driving it made you feel as metropolitan as you possibly could in Seattle when I was younger. The views are nice, plus the glimpses you would get of the 4th-floor studios flying by at eye level.
But like asbestos and pneumatic tubes and building home from old growth, it’s going to have to be one of those things that worked well in it’s day, but we just don’t do anymore. Tunnel or no, soon enough, no one would believe it was ever there.
@11,
A new viaduct wouldn’t look anything like that.
I love me some viaduct. Great pic Charles.
I’d also imagine that dying by being crushed on the viaduct is a lower probability than, say, dying by car for many other reasons.
Or getting mauled by a pit bull.
I dunno @20—42 people died in the collapse of the Cypress Freeway. The CDC only gives national statistics for a 20-year period overlapping 1989, and puts fatalities caused by pitbull-like breeds at 66, nationally. Even with the Bay Area’s higher than average pitbull propensity, it would seem an elevated freeway was far more likely to cause a death, statistically, than a pitbull.
And yes, there’s way better things I could be doing with my time right now.
A portion of the Bay Bridge also collapsed during the Loma Prieta quake, but those drivers that couldn’t stop actually somehow landed safely on the deck below (true), where they were then mauled by pitbulls. And the SPD. And smoking in bars.
Also, remember when ceiling tiles were falling and killing motorists in the new Boston tunnel? Wasn’t a very similar episode (sans death) basically the death knell for the Kingdome?
My first fond memories of visiting Seattle (before I moved here) were of driving in the sunshine on the Viaduct, and having a great time.
Doug dearest, What’s wrong with pneumatic tubes? I love pneumatic tubes. The old Municipal Building used to have them, as did King Street Station, and i thought they were very glamourous. Not as glamorous as the sample kitchen in the old City Light Building, but still glamorous. Whoosh, whoosh!
@23 – Don’t get me wrong, I love’m to. As a matter of fact, they were once my favorite candy delivery system while banking. I bet a lot of old office buildings have’m in their walls, but like superfluous elevated freeways, people everywhere seem to have figured out a better way.
Also, my home is built from glorious old-growth redwood. I’m quite happy about it, I’d even brag about it on a public forum if pressed, but wouldn’t recommend we keep doing that.
@21,
Just FYI, one person died in the Bay Bridge collapse.
@25 – Ahhh… right you are.
Hey, make sure Grant does his “Traffic Report” schtick about 6:00pm on Saturday too!
Let’s see what I-5 REALLY looks like when that ol’ viaduct is closed — even on a NON-commuting, NON-weekday — when there’s a Sounders home game at Qwest Field!
SCIENCE!!!
Charles, I also love the viaduct. The mountain and working waterfront views, the smell of frying Ivar’s in the summertime, and the way the city looks lit up at night. It is a crucial part of my Seattle brand image, and each time I drive on it, I feel sad it will soon be gone.
I use and love the viaduct. I hope Seattle enjoys their weekend without it. If the tunnel doesn’t get dug, let’s build another viaduct that is ugly with monorail capability, to spite those who want a boutiquey waterfront without good paying industrial jobs. We can also spite the Stranger for supporting the monorail, then turning against it.