Viafucked...is that one word, or two?

First of all, "retrofitting" the viaduct is not a realistic option. It has come to the end of its lifespan. And, it is exceptionally ugly. The Stranger seems to have some sort of visceral emotional yet mostly unclear objection to a tunnel, something that would allow the space currently occupied by the viaduct to be converted to public space. I just don't get it. The Stranger's view on this makes as much sense as a monorail, for God's sake - another Stranger Pie In The Sky idea.

The Washington Department of Transportation tried to bury this information under happier bits of news in a Friday-night press release.

Complete bullshit. The viaduct has been sinking for years, and the recent data was released in a press release just like always, in the same way as always. The Stranger's spin is simply not supported by, you know, facts.

When ever I see a tunnel / viaduct story in The Stranger, I say to myself, "Here comes another steaming pile..."

@3, that quote seems self-congratulatory. A coloring poster is hardly investigative journalism. Geico could do a commercial how everyone the viaduct is falling (sickeningly swaying?).

Have some Xanax and a Triple Zombie. It really takes the edge off.
@BerthaDeBlues

"there are tens of thousands of people on [the viaduct]"

What's this, Mudede attempting math and unable to untie his shoes to count on his toes? The elevated viaduct is 1.1 miles long. Assume it is packed bumper-to-bumper with eco-consciously average cars 15' long (so no one from Bellevue is up there in a supersized SUV). The thing is three lanes wide for the most part, and two decks, for a grand total of 2300 cars. To have a mere single 10,000 people on the viaduct requires almost five people in every car, and when has that ever happened? More likely there would be 2301 people in cars.

A tragic video of the Cypress Freeway collapse after the Loma Prieta earthquake in the SF Bay Area on 1989. http://sfist.com/2014/10/15/loma_prieta_…

A tragic video of the Cypress Freeway collapse after the Loma Prieta earthquake in the SF Bay Area on 1989.

And the Cypress Freeway was not in nearly as craptatious condition as the viaduct.

The Stranger is so blinded by the fact that the new view from the water front buildings without the viaduct will benefit the filthy rich that occupy those buildings, that they fail to see that retrofitting or replacing the viaduct, or shifting the viaduct traffic to I-5 is not realistic. They also seem to be oblivious to the attractive idea of such a large open green space for the cities citizens.

Maybe if we said the city could fill it up with homeless camps, or build a monorail there, they might start to see the light.

Sure, we'd all like to se less traffic, but that's not going to happen. Getting it off the surface streets in the most rational solution.

Sometimes I imagine walking into The Stranger's offices and having to part the marijuana smoke to find the receptionist.

3- there's a new surface highway in addition to the tunnel being built where the viaduct sits now, not "public space". there will be a slightly wider strip along the side to plant some trees or widen the sidewalk (or just replace parking spots from underneath the viaduct). basically the exact same design as the surface/transit option without the transit.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/4907…

Could be worse, could be trapped in a tunnel when the Big One comes and die from suffocation as power goes out citywide, trapped behind Seven Gates

I remember reading press in 1989, after the earthquake that tumbled I880, that our viaduct was safe and didn't have the lack-of-rebar problems of I880. Ha. The sooner the tunnel is completed, the better. The tunnel might not have been the best solution, but let's get the damned thing done!

@11 Agreed with your comment. It's now an experiment, the finishing of the tunnel I mean, Bertha is in the ground, grinding away and the project will be done, not on time or within budget, but the project will be completed and all the idiots like dori monson at KIRO will have to find some other catastrophe to report his bile and negative attitude. Don't like to rant and rave about an asshole that works for KIRO but their website makes it difficult to complain about their help. (They are Mormons you know)

3- there's a new surface highway in addition to the tunnel being built where the viaduct sits now, not "public space".

Almost complete FUD.

In fact they are widening Alaskan Way a little bit, keeping the trolley, and the rest will be green space.

@9: Please note the substantial distance between the "boardwalk" and the new Alaskan Way, filled by what looks like three rows of trees. This is called "green space". Also note the tree line on the other side, not as wide but still there.

Thanks for playing, here's a can of tuna as your parting gift.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/Viaduct…

"...the structure will sway sickeningly before pancaking into liquefied earth."

That liquefiable earth is the same dirt that entombs the tunnel, no? That tunnel drilled through partly fill earth that lies many feet below the Puget Sound? But the earthquake that will topple the viaduct won't affect the tunnel because our ace geotechnical engineers say it won't.

Hey, don't forget that there are a lot of us working folks down here in buildings right by Bertha. And as I appreciate The Stranger, it is hard to not feel like a white christian male watching Fox News everytime I read your articles. I am dependent on my office here and it will be catastrophic if I lose it because of this. Funny to you all by jumping on a bus....not funny to me.
thanks.

The new waterfront tunnel does not "replace" the viaduct. The viaduct has convenient exits at Seneca Street and Western Avenue. The tunnel has none. The tunnel only takes you to Aurora Avenue.

For people like myself who regularly used the viaduct to travel from Ballard to SODO, our only real choice will be the surface streets.

@6 beat me to it. Hyperbole isn't going to help anyone.

Dear The Stranger: i'm become concerned, to the edge of panic, that i'm not sufficiently worried about the viaduct. Can you suggest some simple mental disciplines, (beyond assiduously reading The Slog), and/or illicit substances, which will allow me to achieve the expected mental fixation upon the hourly status of this ugly (mostly harmless) lump of concrete?

Try coloring- I hear it helps.

I'm all for tearing that dumb viaduct down, but I would rather see good old-fashioned economic development on that site than transit corridors or "green space" That's some of the most desirable, valuable property in the United States. Build on it!

I travel through the viaduct every working day, and it scares me, especially when traffic is stopped. The other night I popped in 2012, the John Cusack movie that has a real Jerry Bruckheimer feel to it (you remember, like Armageddon, with all the sentimental heroism amped to the highest degree imaginable that you loved but would never admit), and it only took me three scotch ales and 3 bong tokes in to really start enjoying it once more. Anyway, there's this scene in the movie, you know the one, where goofy John is putting the pedal to the medal in his limo as San Diego falls apart all around him. And in one particular scene, as he tries to maneuver underneath the freeway to less perilous streets, a picture perfect viaduct like structure collapses in on itself, killing everyone within. I think about that. Every time I drive to work. Every-Fucking-Time. Worse, John's best attempt at a quivering, puckering anal panic attack along with it. Just saying, a cracker sometimes gets worried about stuff.