West Seattle Blog…

Before the afternoon traffic updates – a demolition update

October 27, 2011 at 3:57 pm | In Alaskan Way Viaduct, West Seattle news | 11 Comments

(Click to see larger image)
Today’s afternoon/evening traffic update will start in a few minutes – but first, our bird’s-eye view, courtesy of Erick (in a crane!), of how the Alaskan Way Viaduct South End demolition was looking as of late this morning. An official update from WSDOT:

Overnight, crews continued to remove debris from the demolition site and removed steel protective plates from the roadway. Today, crews are concentrating their efforts on demolishing the lower bridge deck near South Atlantic Street, striping the new construction bypass and paving. Later tonight, crews will begin installing approximately 40 truckloads of concrete traffic safety barrier along 3,000 feet of the new bridge and bypass.

We also asked them what’s being done with the rubble, after a WSB’er sent us that question. From Viaduct project spokesperson Travis Phelps:

The concrete is going to Seattle Tunneling Parnters (our tunnel contractor). They’ll grind up the concrete and use it for creating roads in and through their workzone and form a launch pad for the boring machine. The rebar is being recycled.

Again, Highway 99 remains scheduled to reopen Monday morning at 5 am – but obviously it won’t be the same as it was – you’ll be driving a construction bypass till you get to the central portion, which will NOT be demolished till the tunnel is done (four-plus years).

P.S. For a time-lapse look at five days of demolition work – check out the video on this page from the Puget Sound Business Journal.

11 Comments

1. So, does our own Nucor get to recycle that rebar? That would be cool!

   Comment by coffee — 3:59 pm October 27, 2011 #

2. Took a walk today by the work area shown in the pic. Traffic accessing 99 northbound on the new ramp by Pyramid brewery on 1st. Looks like they’re really close to completing the surface street bypass between 99 south of and north of the viaduct gap. Very strange to see the viaduct just end by the stadiums. Away from the construction the viaduct area is very quiet, even with the northbound traffic on it. Looking forward to the area with the viaduct completely gone (hopefully not full of new buildings) and quiet. Now if only the new tunnel goes as planned . . .

   Comment by dbsea — 4:08 pm October 27, 2011 #

3. My girls were just asking me what happens to the ruble. Now I can answer them! Thanks!

   Comment by sybil — 4:22 pm October 27, 2011 #

4. It’s amazing how much quieter downtown is with the viaduct closed.

   Comment by sw — 4:26 pm October 27, 2011 #

5. funny how many people were thinking about what’s happening with the rubble; I looked it up last night.
   I’m really impressed with how this process has been managed. Both WSDOT and the contractor deserve kudos for how this was staged in such a limited area.
   When I worked downtown, I frequently went for evening walks from Pioneer Square to what is now the Sculpture Garden; the friend I walked with and I were never able to have a conversation until we were parallel with the Battery Street Tunnel.

   Comment by metrognome — 4:39 pm October 27, 2011 #

6. sw,

   The northbound (upper) lanes are open from Royal Broughm north but that traffic doesn’t causes the noise like the soutbound does when it bounces off the ceiling.

   Comment by Robert — 5:10 pm October 27, 2011 #

7. I lived at Harbor Steps for a while, and the sound is just a roar. It is going to be much nicer without the viaduct, but no tunnel exits still do not make sense to me.

   Comment by Bill at Duwamish Head — 5:33 pm October 27, 2011 #

8. I took my son down to see the demolition work today. They do still have a pile of rubble off in a parking lot for folks to take as a souvenir. The safety officer was very nice. He gave my son earplugs, took pictures for people, and told us where we could pick up rubble. It was a fun little field trip and I’d definitely recommend heading out to take a look before they finish up.

   Comment by Swamp Thing — 5:33 pm October 27, 2011 #

9. Swamp thing-where exactly is that????

   Comment by JH — 5:46 pm October 27, 2011 #

10. We turned off 1st Ave SW onto Atlantic for pictures. The pile of rubble is in a parking lot across Royal Brougham from the Pyramid Brewpub parking lot. They told us we could take as much as we wanted.

    Comment by Swamp Thing — 8:00 pm October 27, 2011 #

11. Man, I wish we had the kidd-o this weekend. A 3 year old in love with bulldozers and such would LOVE that trip.
    Debbie

    Comment by westcoastdeb — 10:18 am October 28, 2011 #

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