Viaduct The Last Of The Big Ugly Things

If you look at this post sometime outside business hours YouTube should have its traffic down to a managable size and actually be able to serve up a video. Right now you're screwed and there's going to be a big blank space under this.

If there had been a video there instead of a big blank space you'd have just seen a purportedly funny video advocating for the preservation of Big Ugly Things. The Viaduct, specifically. Kind of a "please help to preserve Big Ugly Things like this viaduct - we don't want to see it torn down and replaced by these lovely artist's renditions of a tunnel" type of thing. Here's a link directly to it if you think you'll have better luck over there.

In the interest of saving you from excessive Viaduct posts (too late, I know) the campaign going on at City Comforts to shut down the Viaduct for a year as a test of our alternate routes is in full swing.

The obvious way to answer the question is to experiment and close the Viaduct for a year and see if we can get by without it.
It's going to happen anyway during construction if we go with the Tunnel or Rebuild options.

So do it now, under controlled circumstances, when we still have the Viaduct up in case the experiment is too painful etc etc. We have the luxury of being able to experiment - why commit to a five year closure when we can actually try it out?

Yes, please! We actually advocated for an immediate Viaduct closure in March although our rationale was that it would expedite decision making. We like this much better. Can we live without it? Well, we're going to live without it so we may as well try it on before we buy it.

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By Dan in News on May 25, 2006 10:17 AM

Comments [rss]

Gwen

FWIW you can read about the current SDOT Alaskan Way Viaduct Emergency Traffic Management and Closure Plan here: http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/viaductemergencyclosure.htm

It came out last July. It does state:

The plan does not restore capacity of the Viaduct. A full or partial closure means moving high volumes of vehicles to alternate routes, many of which are not designed for significant additional capacity to absorb that traffic.

David Suher

Jason,

What evidence do you have that they are "quite aware" of the issue?

WSDOT did NOT have any sort of Viaduct emergency closure plan until this year -- 2006.

I happen to know because I asked in 2005 because the connection to the PWC plan was obvious and all I got back were lame emails which said "we are working on it."

Check my blog's Google seach function if you don't believe me. I thought WSDOT's lack of preparedness was scandalous and scary.

jason

actually, i think they're quite aware of the implications. that's what the DOT contingency plans are for. we all realize that a temporary closure (even if temporary means a few years) will be necessary.

extrapolating the temporary contingency plans out to a permanent (tear it all down & replace with nothing) loss, and thinking that it's a good idea, is a complete failure of logic. promoting healthier behavior is a great thing. permanently crippling our city's transportation by removing a major artery to prove a point is beyond dumb. if the politicians appear to not be listening to crackpot ideas, they deserve more credit.

David Sucher

Just for the record, I am not really campaigning for a temporary closure so much as suggesting that contemplating such a closure might be a good idea for those who favor the massive disruption of the Tunnel or the Rebuild, both of which will require a period of many years without the current Viaduct.

I don't believe that downtown politicians or interests (much less the rest of us) have really started to imagine the disruption which a permament closre will entail.