Friday Roundtable: Waterfront Park Grand Opening

Over the past two decades, the City of Seattle, Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), Port of Seattle, Friends of Waterfront Park, Downtown Seattle Association, Seattle Center, King County Metro, numerous community groups, and thousand of Seattle residents have contributed to redesigning and rebuilding Seattle's waterfront. Years of debates, discussions, proposals, votes ($), and construction have culminated in the Grand Opening of Waterfront Park tomorrow, September 6.

The Grand Opening Celebration will occur between 11am-9pm with performances, activities, and games at the Salish Steps and OverlookWalk, Pier 62, Pier 58, Park Promenade, Pioneer Square HabitatBeach, and Stadium Plaza. The Salish Steps are the stairs/seating at the bottom of the Overlook Walk. A detailed schedule of events is available on the Friends of Waterfront Park website.

2012 aerial view of Pike Place Market, Seattle Aquarium, and Alaskan Way Viaduct (City of Seattle)2024 aerial view of Pike Place Market, Seattle Aquarium, and Overlook Walk (Tim Rice)How We Got Here

In 2001, the Alaskan Way Viaduct was damaged by the Nisqually earthquake. After emergency repairs were implemented, City and State leaders were concerned about future earthquake damage to the aging structure. Replacement proposals included a new tunnel, a new elevated viaduct, and a widened surface street with additional transit. In general, the State preferred the elevated option because it was cheaper. The City government preferred the tunnel as it would be less disruptive to the waterfront. The City and State were deadlocked as Seattle needed State funding and Washington state needed permits from the City. In 2007, the Seattle City Council passed two resolutions calling for a non-binding, advisory vote on the tunnel and elevated options. The vote was on each option separately and Seattle voters rejected both options. The tunnel option only received 30% approval and the elevated option received 43% approval. Following this vote, efforts to promote the surface and improved transit option started again.

To further advance the project, officials from Seattle, King County, and Washington state signed an agreement to work collaboratively. This led to the creation of the Project Oversight Committee. The Committee included the governor, King County executive, Seattle mayor, chair of the Senate transportation committee, chair of the House transportation committee, one member from the King County Council and one member from the Seattle City Council. Additionally, a Stakeholder Advisory Committee was created to represent interests from local businesses, advocacy organizations, nearby neighborhoods, and labor groups.

The Project Oversight Committee analyzed eight alternatives and announced two preferred alternatives in December 2008. The preferred alternatives were a surface/transit option in the form of dual three-lane one-way streets on Alaskan Way/Western and an elevated highway in the form of two separated spans that allow commuters to bypass downtown. In response to the two preferred alternatives, Stakeholder Advisory Committee member and chair of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce Tayloe Washburn proposed a new tunnel hybrid option to the Stakeholder Advisory Committee. This proposal included a tolled deep-bore or lidded trench tunnel between S Royal Brougham Way and Harrison Street, two or three surface lanes of traffic, and traffic flow improvements to I-5 and city streets. This option was supported by 22 of the 25 Stakeholder Advisory Committee members and sent to Governor Christine Gregoire for consideration. The Seattle Transit Blog did not support the tunnel alternative.

In January 2009, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, Governor Christine Gregoire and King County Exec Ron Sims announced the selection of the tunnel alternative. Washington state agreed to fund the tunnel construction and Alaskan Way Viaduct demolition. Seattle signed on to fund the Elliott Bay Seawall replacement, the waterfront surface street (Alaskan Way), and the now effectively cancelled Cultural Connector Streetcar. King County committed to unspecified transit improvements and the Port of Seattle provided $300 million to the overall project.

The 2009 Seattle Mayor election between STB endorsed (and future STB guest author) Mike McGinn and Joe Mallahan heavily featured debates about the planned tunnel. McGinn campaigned against the tunnel and Mallahan supported the tunnel. McGinn won the election by about 5,000 votes. In Feburary 2011, Mayor McGinn vetoed a bill from the Seattle City Council that affirmed agreements with the State regarding the tunnel construction. Seattle City Council members overrode McGinn's veto with an 8-1 vote. The following month, a group called Protect Seattle Now filed a referendum petition calling for a vote on the tunnel decision. The referendum was voted on in August 2011 and passed with nearly 60% of the vote. That same month, the Federal Highway Administration approved the project clearing the way for WSDOT to start construction on the tunnel.

Tunnel construction was riddled with issues and cost overruns, but the State Route 99 tunnel finally opened to the public in February 2019. The Alaskan Way Viaduct was closed to traffic a few weeks prior, resulting in the over-hyped Carpocalypse. It turns out Seattle can survive without the tunnel or viaduct.

Throughout the 2010s, there was significant discussion and debate over what should replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. The end result is a five to eight lane road, separated bike lanes, and a few new pedestrian spaces along the waterfront.

While the redesigned Waterfront Park is far from perfect, it is a significant improvement over a double decker highway viaduct. If you have not visited the waterfront in the past few years, use tomorrow's celebration as an excuse to check it out.

If you would like to lean more about the Alaskan Way Viaduct's history, History Link has an incredible four-part series by Jennifer Ott.

This is an open thread.