ONE-WEEK PROGRESS REPORT: How your future Highway 99 ramp to downtown is going

Our Instagram video shows where we were this morning atop the ramp you will take into downtown from northbound Highway 99 if you’re not heading into the tunnel. WSDOT invited news media to visit the work zone this morning for a one-week update on how it’s going.

That’s a look southward onto the under-construction Dearborn Street onramp. When you are traveling on it, northbound, here’s what you’ll see:

When you get to the end of the ramp, you’ll either continue north onto Alaskan Way, or turn right to get to 1st Avenue South. Part of the ramp was built by a different contractor a year ago, but it couldn’t be completed until now. It was built with “geofoam” that rests more lightly on the area’s compression-susceptible soil:

WSDOT’s Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Program deputy administrator Dave Sowers gave the progress report – here’s his three-minute explanation of the south-end work:

Sowers says they’re still on track to open the tunnel February 4th – right after the February 2nd/3rd goodbye-viaduct-hello-tunnel celebration – and this ramp a week or so later. (You can check out the construction-zone webcams here.)

10 Replies to "ONE-WEEK PROGRESS REPORT: How your future Highway 99 ramp to downtown is going"

  • Rick January 18, 2019 (10:12 pm)

    Not my Ramp,,  Not paying toll unless its an emergency

    • WSB January 18, 2019 (10:26 pm)

      The ramp isn’t tolled, and it’s where you’ll have to exit if you are headed NB but don’t want to use the tunnel. Of course there are other ways to get to downtown – 1st, 4th, etc.

  • K. Davis January 18, 2019 (10:38 pm)

    You wouldn’t want to let facts get in the way of a poorly thought out, uninformed expression of sour grapes.  

  • Villagegreen January 19, 2019 (12:01 am)

    Rick got rolled. 

  • Chris January 19, 2019 (11:02 am)

    Very cool to see the progress of this. Hope it goes smoothly.

  • dsa January 19, 2019 (12:05 pm)

    Geofoam looks like Styrofoam.  Using Geofoam for fill they claim the ramp won’t sink into the soft soils below.  The tried and true method of construction over soft soil is to overload it with dirt, let it subside and then remove the excess dirt before building the ramp.  It is also interesting Sowers said they are using a flexible concrete.  Also I heard him say on TV that it would last 1,000 years.  These guys should have built the AWV back in the day.

    • WSB January 19, 2019 (12:10 pm)

      Yes, the 1,000 years was mentioned at the briefing. He also explained that petroleum products are a threat to the foam, but before anyone could say, wait, but the vehicles traveling over this are largely powered that way, he explained that it’s protectively wrapped.

      • dsa January 19, 2019 (2:29 pm)

          What about tankers carrying flammables?  My thought is that they would not be allowed in the tunnel, but maybe they will be with new fire suppression technology.  But it seems they could use this ramp and thus be involved in a mishap that floods this geofoam support, protected or not..There used to be roadways that flammable tankers were banned.  I don’t know if that’s still the case, I-90 tunnel and lower deck of I-5 Lake Washington ship canal bridge, and probably more.

  • Deb January 19, 2019 (12:34 pm)

    Was that freshly planted landscaping between the north and south bound lanes??? Thanks for the briefing video and the details. I’m looking forward to the Feb. 2 walk. 

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