The wall is coming down

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  • ron ll
    Seattle WA USA (Ballard)
    • Oct 2005
    • 24274

    The wall is coming down

    Cities used to think walls were a good idea. Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct is coming down starting tonight. Many people I know are taking a nostalgic last drive on it today. Personally, I'm not going to miss it.

  • ccmanuals
    Son of a Guineaman
    • Dec 2001
    • 13318

    #2
    Re: The wall is coming down

    I thought a viaduct and a wall were different things.
    Tom

    "Leave the gun, take the cannolis"

    Comment

    • ron ll
      Seattle WA USA (Ballard)
      • Oct 2005
      • 24274

      #3
      Re: The wall is coming down

      Originally posted by ccmanuals
      I thought a viaduct and a wall were different things.
      Euphemism. This viaduct has walled off the city from the waterfront for too many decades.

      Comment

      • LeeG
        Senior Member
        • May 2002
        • 72781

        #4
        Re: The wall is coming down

        Embarcadero in SF looked a lot better when the two level highway was removed.

        Comment

        • genglandoh
          Senior Member
          • Dec 2010
          • 10538

          #5
          Re: The wall is coming down

          Originally posted by ccmanuals
          I thought a viaduct and a wall were different things.
          Why a duck, why no chicken.
          "The only rules that really matter are these: what a man can do and what a man can’t do." Captain Jack Sparrow

          Comment

          • Jim Bow
            Normcore
            • Jul 2008
            • 23985

            #6
            Re: The wall is coming down

            See where those cars are backed in? I once parked there in my old Toyota pickup while I got some fish and chips. Came back to find a small crowd around the truck. A brake drum, we assume from a scrap metal truck, had flown off the viaduct and was embedded (no pun intended) in the back. Put a hole in the bed.
            “Come, come, my conservative friend, wipe the dew off your spectacles and see the world is moving" - Elizabeth Cady Stanton

            Comment

            • Osborne Russell
              Senior Member
              • Mar 2006
              • 27131

              #7
              Re: The wall is coming down

              One ugly POS.
              Do not speak of "our institutions" unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf.

              Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny (2017)​

              Comment

              • Bobcat
                Formerly a Smallboat Guy
                • May 2007
                • 9540

                #8
                Re: The wall is coming down

                I drove NB on the viaduct last Saturday for the last time. It's one of the best views in town. I will not miss it
                What's not on a boat costs nothing, weighs nothing, and can't break

                Comment

                • Ian McColgin
                  Senior Member
                  • Apr 1999
                  • 51639

                  #9
                  Re: The wall is coming down

                  I remember when one of the last stretches of elevated rail came down in NYC. Called "The El. Think the opposite of subway. Dad turned a news photo of the demolition work into that year's Christmas card . . . No El.

                  Comment

                  • ron ll
                    Seattle WA USA (Ballard)
                    • Oct 2005
                    • 24274

                    #10
                    Re: The wall is coming down

                    Originally posted by Osborne Russell
                    One ugly POS.
                    Ya think?

                    I can't believe that was ever thought the right thing to do.

                    Comment

                    • J.Madison
                      Senior Member
                      • Mar 2011
                      • 3976

                      #11
                      Re: The wall is coming down

                      The view from the viaduct is stunning, about the only good thing about it. Seattle in general has squandered its waterfront. Its frontage on the sound is essentially unusable for the average person, and is an afterthought to the cities focus. South lake union is perhaps even worse. Such opportunity for a city built around its waterfront, but it's just a city that happens to be near water instead.

                      Comment

                      • Norman Bernstein
                        Liberaltarian
                        • Nov 2004
                        • 25217

                        #12
                        Re: The wall is coming down

                        Boston went through a similar metamorphosis, when the 'Central Artery', a huge elevated highway the separated most of the city, from the harbor waterfront, was removed, and the highway put underground.

                        The program was called the 'Big Dig', and it was massively over budget and over schedule.... VERY controversial... but the end result was a fantastic improvement in the aesthetics of the city. Portions of the reclaimed land are now called the Rose Kennedy Greenway.
                        "Reason and facts are sacrificed to opinion and myth. Demonstrable falsehoods are circulated and recycled as fact. Narrow minded opinion refuses to be subjected to thought and analysis. Too many now subject events to a prefabricated set of interpretations, usually provided by a biased media source. The myth is more comfortable than the often difficult search for truth."






                        Comment

                        • Rum_Pirate
                          Banned
                          • Apr 2007
                          • 22881

                          #13
                          Re: The wall is coming down

                          Trust that they have considered how the traffic will adapt to surrounding roads without causing jams.

                          Comment

                          • ron ll
                            Seattle WA USA (Ballard)
                            • Oct 2005
                            • 24274

                            #14
                            Re: The wall is coming down

                            Originally posted by Rum_Pirate
                            Trust that they have considered how the traffic will adapt to surrounding roads without causing jams.
                            Like Boston, the Alaskan Way Viaduct is being replaced by a tunnel which is already complete. There will be a three week delay in transferring traffic to the tunnel however while they reroute the entrance ramps. I'm not traveling south at all for the next three weeks.

                            Comment

                            • David G
                              Senior Member
                              • Dec 2003
                              • 89688

                              #15
                              Re: The wall is coming down

                              Originally posted by J.Madison
                              The view from the viaduct is stunning, about the only good thing about it. Seattle in general has squandered its waterfront. Its frontage on the sound is essentially unusable for the average person, and is an afterthought to the cities focus. South lake union is perhaps even worse. Such opportunity for a city built around its waterfront, but it's just a city that happens to be near water instead.
                              Indeed. Keep in mind, though, that during the growth of most cities the waterfront was not a desirable area... unless your industry needed the water supply, or the place to dump effluent. Muddy, smelly, prone to flooding, and mostly given over to dirty industries.

                              It took a long time for that approach to be outgrown, and we still see the hangover from it everywhere. Some cities have done a better job than others of converting. Here in Portland, we have yet to come up with a reasonable solution for Interstate-5 hugging the banks of the Willamette River thru most of downtown.

                              I was involved for a while with a group that was promoting the effort to bring bodies back to the river thru adding River Taxis as part of the transportation infrastructure - with the longer goal of reclaiming the waterfront from the freeway.

                              Kudos to Seattle for their efforts!
                              David G
                              Harbor Woodworks
                              https://www.facebook.com/HarborWoodworks/

                              "It was a Sunday morning and Goddard gave thanks that there were still places where one could worship in temples not made by human hands." -- L. F. Herreshoff (The Compleat Cruiser)

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