So long, iconic view
About 90,000 cars a day use the Alaska Way Viaduct. It was built in 1949 to carry Highway 99 traffic into Seattle, and was considered a marvel of efficiency at the time. The only other route to and through downtown is the I-5 freeway to the east, a parking lot for most of the day.
Our traffic is rated as some of the worst on earth, coming in at 20 for traffic congestion on a list of the 25 largest cities on Earth, beating out much bigger cities like Rio de Janeiro. Go, Seattle!
You remember our infamous tunnel project, initially projected to open in December 2015. A two-year delay halted the drill Bertha from completing the work until April 2017. The projected opening date was moved to early 2019. And here we are.
The problem is the Viaduct will be permanently closed on January 11, and the new tunnel won't open for another 3 weeks. This is the largest road closure in the history of the state, and no one knows quite how bad it will get. We have a pretty good idea though, because we know what happens the Viaduct closes just on weekends.
Anyway, the tolled tunnel will soon whisk people right through Seattle like an express lane, but there won't be any exits. All those cars going downtown from West Seattle will be forced on to the surface streets. Like poor us, trying to get to the Symphony on Sunday afternoons.
OK, I made a resolution about complaining, but that 4:30 alarm was pretty rude. John has been off since December 23rd and went back to work this morning. It isn't that we slept late or anything, but it was nice lazing around drinking coffee and eating cooked breakfasts most days.
The tree is down and Christmas all put away. Back to January reality.
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