Another gem of the Viaduct, courtesy of prolific Flickr Contributor Slightly North

Though the Alaskan Way Viaduct continues to sink—or, as the engineers like to call it, "settle"—a section of the Alaskan Way Viaduct has been declared safe. Preliminary results from the semi-annual inspection that closed the viaduct last weekend show that a section of the bridge between Columbia and Yesler St. has settled an additional 3/8th of an inch. The settling is visible in four columns that support the viaduct.

Since the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) started to analyze the sinking of the section between Columbia and Yesler in 2002, the columns have settled five and a half inches. Repairs and reinforcement of the columns began last fall. It is these repairs, which are now almost complete, that engineers say keep the viaduct safe to drive on. Repairs to the four settling columns include placing a series of steel rods deep into the "stable soil" surrounding the structural base of the viaduct. (Stable soil seems a bit of an oxymoronic statement, seeing as the viaduct is built directly on a major fault line.)

We've never felt safe driving on the viaduct and, judging by the speeding that goes down on that stretch of road, very few Seattleites do. New steel rods and the continued declaration of "it's safe, it's safe, we swear! don't mind the settling..." doesn't do much to ease those fears. But we know we'll continue to drive on the viaduct, holding our breath and hoping now is not the time for the big one to hit.