WSDOT has just gone public with two new videos of/about the Highway 99 tunnel, as its completion and opening approach. The video above is described as work as the double-deck highway inside it was finished. Below, a narrated clip explains the next phase of work:
Now crews are installing and testing the tunnel’s operational and safety systems. It’s a big job. Inside the tunnel there are:
*More than 300 cameras to monitor traffic and security at all times as part of an incident-detection system.
*Automatic ventilation systems designed to keep air quality and visibility high.
*Automated sprinkler systems designed to put out a fire quickly at its source.
Together, these systems will make the SR 99 tunnel one of the “smartest” tunnels ever built. This video explains how the critical air quality and fire safety systems work together:
Read more here.
As we’ve been reporting, and as WSDOT reiterates today, the tunnel *might* open as soon as this fall. When it’s pronounced ready to go, the Alaskan Way Viaduct will be shut down and two to three weeks of work to finish connections to the tunnel will commence. (We reported more about that – and the status of tunnel-toll-decisionmaking – recently here.)
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