The Alaskan Way Viaduct: How Seattle chose the Bertha tunnel alternative

[@jgpwlcs36]

incredible how complicated city infrastructure is

[@indianasquatchunters]

Ben Dover City planning is amazing and complex. Quite interesting to researcc

[@TheLemonBird]

it is not they just make it complicated. they made it work 100s of years ago with no technology

[@bmw803]

Go to China, they build this shit in no time. They don't argue and spew hot air. They just put the TBM in the ground and they keep digging.

[@jaredlangley6924]

@@bmw803 They cut corners and build stuff like shit. All kinds of skyscrapers have collapsed in China because of a lack of building codes.

[@bmw803]

@@chopchoi They did it in the USSR and other eastern block countries. And to even think that we have pro socialìst/ communist movements in America. Wanna know the future? Look into the past.

[@joaquimsilva6081]

Something similar was made in Rio de Janeiro. They demolished an elevated highway that blocked the view to the Bay in the downtown area to give space for a walkway with a light rail passing through the middle. They also built a tunnel underneath for the cars. The land value skyrocketed until we remembered we where in the middle of a economic and political crisis that destroyed the country

[@Snitram19]

Imagine if it was this complicated to build in cities skylines.

[@angheritagecebu1121]

It is for me

[@Helgi105]

@@angheritagecebu1121 in CS you can build whatever you want not depending on anybody else's opinion.

[@angheritagecebu1121]

Yeet

[@apoet7738]

If you’re not using mods

[@jesselopez3022]

Cities skylines is basically how things operate in China

[@steverogers8163]

Not mentioned in the video but very, very important to know. The viaduct or highway 99 is one of only TWO highways through the city. The other is I-5. Both are over capacity during rush hour and frankly near capacity at all other hours. All options other than the bored tunnel would have required them to tear down the Viaduct first and then build the replacement. Which means the city would lose 50% of its highway capacity for years. This was unacceptable.

[@NWLibertarian]

Hopefully now that people can see how short sighted this is, they will support rebuilding the viaduct, better and with another exit downtown. With the tunnel and the viaduct, work could then begin to fix I-5.

[@tannerrobinson5110]

SO hows the traffic these days? with only I-5 being open? :)

[@Nicholas-f5]

Wouldn't people then be naturally forced to condsider telecommuting, carpooling, transit? I think we could make do with a lot less capacity by using I wiser.

[@Inbal_Feuchtwanger]

I would guess i5 has about double the capacity as 99 but your point still stands. Tearing down 99 before the tunnel was built would have been a complete nightmare. I cant wait to see what it all looks like after everything is complete.

[@Inbal_Feuchtwanger]

@@tannerrobinson5110 The tunnel is open now and they are in the process of tearing down the viaduct. They never had just i5 open except for a single weekend I think. Traffic is still pretty bad regardless though. Not much you can do in a region where almost all of the commuting goes north and south.

[@minihom3376]

In 1962 when I was a student at the UW College of Architecture, a group of us were given the design project assignment to redevelop the waterfront. Our number one recommendation? Tear down the (just completed) viaduct!

[@PeaceLoveandMolotovs]

As a Seattle resident whos been against the tunnel project for multiple reason you have changed my outlook.

[@Ryguy-lg2xz]

ShotgunFelatio As you and I both know The land where the viaduct once stud is going to be worth a shit ton of money

[@Delibro]

I really love all those people that are against something and only in later days inform themselves. Its always the same.

[@christafranken9170]

@@Delibro I do very much prefer those people to people who think they know everything and will not change their minds when hearing another point of view

[@Delibro]

@@christafranken9170 You are right, but I do prefer people who either inform themselves and then argue, or not inform and be quiet.

[@christafranken9170]

@@Delibro no one can know everything though. Informing yourself isn't something you do at some point to then know everything on the subject. We form opinions based on what we know, with the information we have gathered up tot that point. I don't think it is reasonable to exclude people who aren't the most reputable experts on a subject from the conversation. And who would decide hoe much of an expert one would need to be to be allowed to say something? Would OP first need to get a degree in city planning before being allowed an opinion on her own city? Or do they just need to know the same amount on the subject you do? You do seem to think you are allowed to express your opinion..

[@barkboingfloom]

The last piece of the Alaska Way Viaduct has finally been removed this weekend!

[@kcgfy81]

As a SF Bay Area resident seeing that Alaskan viaduct gave me chills! The Cypress freeway in Oakland collapsed and killed 40 people in an earthquake in 1989 so we definitely do not miss that type of structure.

[@kirokyo]

Very educational! I was obtaining my civil engineering degree at the time and we had a lot of discussions about the Alaskan Way Viaduct alternatives in our transportation engineering classes. A huge majority had voted against the tunnel option and went for the surface option, similar to San Francisco. However, even though we now see the pitfalls of the tunnel option as well as the cost, I am happy with the uniqueness this brings to Seattle's infrastructure. From floating bridges to megatunnels in a seismic zone, Seattle can claim itself to be one of the most technically challenging areas to design for. It is exciting to be an engineer in this area.

[@CityBeautiful]

They should have that on the sign on the way into town: "Seattle: Home to some unique infrastructure!" :)

[@Inkling777]

Yeah, exciting for you. Not so exciting for the city's tax-payers. Madness like that tunnel are one reason I moved away from Seattle in 2012.

[@GH-oi2jf]

kirokyo - In San Francisco, the Embarcadero viaduct didn’t carry through traffic. The only people who wanted to preserve it were Chinatown merchants. That structure was originally conceived as part of a highway bypassing all of San Francisco from the Bay Bridge to the Golden Gate along the waterfront. Thankfully, citizen opposition killed that scheme leaving just a little piece of it as an express route to Chinatown. The situation in Seattle was quite different, as the viaduct was primarily a bypass of the central city. The tunnel preserves the bypass function while rehabilitating Alaskan Way. It is clearly the right solution to the problem.

[@gregorytaylor862]

It’s gonna be “awesome” when we have our next major quake and that tunnel that was dug through essentially quicksand gets moved back and forth and up and down. It’ll be interesting to see what happens to the drivers stuck in it when that happens. Will the tunnel break? Flood? Sink? Stay tuned.

[@gregorytaylor862]

@ but those tunnels weren't built inside of loose backfill like the Seattle one was. it was so bad that they had to continue draining the sand and water slurry that kept spilling in while they repaired the boring machine because they had to cut a hole in from the top. The current tunnel has already been leaking water in it, which is why you can see evidence of it when going in the northbound section on the walls.

[@mendoza900]

I was just in Seattle (May 2019) and actually drove thru the tunnel. It's actually a pretty long drive and the viaduct is in pieces all over the place with machines picking at it. Here in Washington we've been hearing about this tunnel for damn near 20 yrs so it was cool to finally drive thru it.

[@contermann2]

For me, as an urban planning student, this is the ideal channel. Love it! Keep on going!

[@Roma_eterna]

contermann2, ditto, but as a public policy student.

[@richardmorton4259]

Been a Seattle resident since 1992. The deep tunnel option was the best and it has worked out well. Never understood why it took them so long to come up with this option.

[@hebneh]

The so-called "Seattle Process" is normal politics everywhere in the USA - if not the rest of the world - when very large expensive projects occur. Unless the government is a repressive dictatorship, there will be protests galore by all kinds of constituencies in the affected area, with cost usually being the biggest source of complaints. "We can't afford it", "It'll take too long", "There'll be too much construction dust and noise", "My business will be affected", "I don't like it", "We don't need this", blah blah blah. Fortunately, once it's completed and a few years have passed, all that is forgotten.

[@Dave102693]

You mean how China builds shit in 3 months time like it's nothing?

[@notsure6187]

The farther over budget it goes, longer it takes for residents to forget about it. This is a fact.

[@duncanadelaide4054]

The best example of the Seattle process at work is actually on the other side of Washington state, in Spokane, which has been trying to build a north-south freeway bypass since 1946. Initial attempts (which started a full 18 years after the traffic engineers determined the need for a bypass) to build a (terribly planned) freeway through the middle of several neighborhoods understandably failed (although the exit from the existing I-90 freeway at Hamilton Street is massively over-built because of this). After 33 years of further discussion, debate, planning, re-planning, engineering, and re-engineering, the current plan was approved in 1997. The new plan has still necessitated the destruction of several neighborhoods and the relocation of 1000 residents. It will also cross the campus of Spokane Community College, although how it is going to do this has yet to be officially decided. Additionally, construction has been delayed in the Hillyard area after a series of previously unnoticed antique underground fuel tanks below the former railyard were discovered, which have to be removed in order to construct the freeway. The current scheduled completion date is set for 2029, a mere 83 years after the initial decision to begin planning.

[@the.abhiram.r]

Dave102693 because china owns everything

[@joeblow9657]

@daAnder71 You forgot about re education sir

[@fredrikkarner4115]

I like this channel a lot, I hope It takes off soon!

[@CityBeautiful]

Thanks! And me too!

[@WiglyWorm]

It just did.

[@markknight3983]

Makes me grateful for the Roman Street layout in York - no space to build anything like this and is now all pedestrianised thank god 😀

[@Skullair313]

The "it could have been a lot worse" statement is true though. In Germany, they dug a bored tunnel underneath a rail line and it collapsed. They had to fill the whole area up with concrete, including the stuck tunnel borer.

[@Litzy-br1hb]

Very clear explanation. This project took serval years but in the end citizens look happy with the results

[@twstf8905]

They just closed down the Alaska way viaduct last weekend (Jan 11, 2019) for the final time. On the local news up around here, people were warned that, "Those estimated 90,000 vehicles per day, until the tunnel opens next month, would be scattered throughout downtown Seattle and it's surrounding areas, so plan accordingly!" What's hilarious is that the very next official work day; Monday, January14th, the Washington State department of transportation observed a DECREASE in the local daily traffic congestion lol exactly the opposite of all their predictions. There may have been some, "activists," making things difficult politically around here for the viaduct replacement project back in the beginning, but I assure you, now everybody is MORE than ready to finally get that giant monstrosity out of there! The tunnel, for all its problems, is going to be a welcome alternative, and most importantly; the local population is beyond ready for downtown Seattle to begin it's cosmetic waterfront makeover. This is a beautiful place to live. I've been here all my life. And in that 40+ years it has never been as beautiful as it's potential. So, I would say everyone's ready👍

[@AmbientMorality]

I've always thought they should have replaced the viaduct with nothing, though that is maybe why I am not an urban planner. I would be terrible at managing the interests of the (unfortunately huge) car owner stakeholders.

[@paulburns1333]

@@AmbientMorality Ha, no one else thought of that.

[@paulburns1333]

Here in Liverpool UK, they're still talking about how to reconnect the city to the waterfront after 30 years. We've actually gone backwards. Don't know why, watching this, it looks easy (!).

[@sahilp70248]

Hey at least you guys in Seattle are actually doing something about it, Here in Vancouver just up the coast traffic is getting worse and almost nothing is being done.

[@TripNBallsGaming]

We get it. That tunnel's not going to do very much though when our traffic is nearly as bad as LA's. What we really need is more work on our public transportation so that we're not overwhelmed by the 15-20,000 people that keep moving here every year.

[@mjt2231]

Seattle traffic is AWFUL.

[@NWLibertarian]

Seattle is not accommodating visitors to the city. Besides tourism, entertainment, sports, there is a big demand that people come for business, medical, government (all levels) and other things. Seattle isn't making the streets easier to drive on, they are eliminating lanes and closing streets to cars. Total insanity. You can't compare to 'Couver because Seattle is Hour Glass shaped with the highest demand to go to the center. They must replace the viaduct and rebuild I-5 to make things functional

[@GH-oi2jf]

Sahil Prasad - Traffic gets worse primarily because population increases so there is more of it. The tunnel project in Seattle won’t make driving easier, but it will make it safer and will make the waterfront a nicer place.

[@billclintonswife9621]

dont worry.. the perpetual lockdown will eliminate traffic until a real pandemic thins the herd

[@mikechat16]

Its like one of those groups projects, where everyone wants to do their own thing, and the final result is a Frankenstein.

[@mentonerodominicano]

I visited Seattle in Nov 2020 and most of the viaduct is already removed. I cannot imagine how awful it must have looked like when it was there. I'm glad they got rid of it.

[@shaynewhite1]

As a kid, I thought elevated double-decker freeways were incredibly cool and I loved when my parents took me on the Embarcadero Freeway. I was devastated when they had to tear it down. Of course, now that I'm older and wiser, I understand why they need to go. :)

[@JoeHamelin]

Having lived through the process you did a great job explaining it in eight minutes.

[@CityBeautiful]

Thanks!

[@Sarnahanfi]

Wahnsinn wieviel Arbeit und Kooperation dahinter steckt. Grössten Respekt^^

[@yaguzi]

I just discovered your channel. Currently binge-watching your videos. I can predict that you’ll be the next Wendover Productions. Keep up the great work!

[@kd1s]

Here in Providence RI we don't have tunnels for cars oh no. We have four linear miles of tunnels below the city but it's used to store overflow sewage.

[@richardcline1337]

Was that overflow from the House and Senate in Washington? Sounds like about all that is produced there for several decades now.

[@Danielhake]

'The Seattle process' - sounds like planning in the Netherlands

[@chrisallen2848]

Watching this is September 2024 as the project nears completion. I think most people are happy with the finished product!

[@mitchellbarnow1709]

Great Channel! Thanks so much for creating these great monthly stories.

[@ShaudaySmith]

i learned so much from these videos. i didn't know i cared so much about this stuff. But it gives me a grasp of bureaucracies, community involvement, and some things take so long. I don't understand why it took two years repair the drill though.

[@LiterallyShuffelen]

i know this isn’t up to date but literally i’ve lived in seattle my whole life and i’ve always wondered why that ugly thing was always there. thank you

[@BenjaminDenverstone]

Denver is doing something similar to Interstate 70 from I-25 to the Chambers exit. A portion of the highway is moving underground and a park is being built above it.

[@mickmickymick6927]

Really good video going through all the difficulties and delays involved in planning.

[@scottmiller3975]

This is an amazing video! Awesome amounts of info and very clear about the complexity.

[@mdmenzel]

When I was last there, I was surprised how much this mars the view and access to the waterfront

[@danielgalan2321]

Shame on the activists, and the locals who booed the tunnel making fun of the boring machine and delaying this project in the first place. The same types have delayed much needed projects like the light rail and other public transportation improvements. Boring tunnels are iconic of progress and futuristic projects. This boring machine has proven all over the world to be the best method for boring city road tunnels. I am glad the leaders in Seattle made a decision.

[@somemanwhoateapuertoricanl7859]

Daniel Galan problem in north america is that people want to keep everything the same, regardless of all the problems they have to deal with. everytime state, city and county officials plan to build a freeway or a mass transit network (or expansion if they have one), locals keep opposing them, because they don't want it to go through their property. they all be like: Not In My Back Yard, or simply known as the NIMBY effect. people in this continent seem to want everything immediately, as long as it's not NIMBY

[@andretsang7337]

The whole point of this project was to toss the viaduct into the trash. We don't want more highways. Instead of having more cars, we'd have fewer.

[@xGatoDelFuegox]

Seattle voters didn't want the tunnel, tho. It was deemed too expensive for not enough impact. A compromise proposal was only accepted after extra money was promised to be used for improvements in surface roads AND mass transit. Then, after the tunnel was "approved", the size of the tunnel shrank, meaning it would take even fewer cars off the road than previously expected. Meaning, after the tunnel was built, traffic would get WORSE on the highway! Not only that, but the plan left the city of seattle on the hook for cost overruns. Convenient when the drill hit a pipe that was unmarked, costing hundreds of millions of dollars directly to the city. Convenient, when all that extra money that was supposed to go to mass transit now got put into cost overruns. Now that we're short on funding, know what? Might as well just CHARGE TOLLS for the tunnel anyway! So, when all is done, Seattle got a road that fits less cars, at a huge cost, with tolls, while the number of people travelling the city is increasing at a huge rate. The viaduct had to go, but the tunnel was not a good option. The money would be much better spent on reducing the constant gridlock on BOTH of seattle's highways far away from the viaduct and downtown. Why couldn't they make it like lake shore drive?

[@MarceloBenoit-trenes]

GatoDelFuego if you build more roads, there will be more traffic, that has been proved... and the tunnel is a road, so... oh, by the way, tolls are good, roads must pay for themselves, in USA there is an average of 50 % of direct coverage by the road users of the cost, the remaining is covered by taxpayers.

[@br33zy771]

i agreed w/u up until the tolls. Tolls are a terrible idea, they are annoying to pay and simply ridiculous. Raise my taxes any day over stupid tolls.

[@spoony8232]

project complete in 2020, nearly 20 years... and my mind goes to 1990... wtf

[@jeremiahjewell3398]

2:28 "Traffic problems did not appear." Yes they most certainly did. While I agree that the viaduct was an absolute eyesore for SF, the six lane boulevard with traffic lights every 30 meters can't support nearly the same level of traffic as the viaduct.

[@danielrose1392]

For large metropolitan areas, you can't build enough roads. Whatever road you built will have congestion during rush hour. The more roads you build, the less public transportation is used and you again end up with congestion. As it is, the road is up to the task. If you check traffic data, it is one of the less congested streets, compared to it's surrounding streets.

[@puffpuffin1]

It's the way City Beautiful said it that urks me too. It makes it sound like after the Embarcadero Freeway was removed, traffic disappeared. TRAFFIC DID NOT DISAPPEAR. Traffic only diverted to the surface streets and clogged up those roads. So, traffic problems DID appear in the form of surface streets that paralleled the freeway that carried a few thousand cars were suddenly carrying tens of thousands of cars. It's unfortunate that this lie of traffic disappearing after the freeway was removed continues to be circulated by anti-car activists, some of who are now trying to legitimize themselves by becoming an urban planner. As a native San Franciscan who lived through the 1989 quake and studied its transportation effects in the region, it's very sad that this lie is becoming the truth. One only needs to read through the newspaper archives to show that this lie is a lie. My experience has been that the anti-car urbanist/planner/etc. will just discount it by saying mainstream media is biased.

[@MrJack1992]

puffpuffin1 it's boutique enviormentalism alot of the anti car activists think of. They want to destroy the 345 here in Dallas which connects I-45 to US-75. It along with stemmons freeway forms a nice loop for Dallas. Thankfully stemmons freeway was turned into a tunnel to allow klyde Warren park above ground. But the proposal to connect deep elum with downtown by demolishing the 345 is ridiculous. A better proposal would be to rebuild the 345 or build it underground then turn it into a surface street project.

[@somemanwhoateapuertoricanl7859]

TheNekoman123 "build it underground then turn it into a surface street project" i don't know about that. In north america, people don't even like the idea of building a tunnel in the first place. people already want to make something the cheapest and most durable as possible. i mean, in dallas, like most cities in america, it's surrounded by a freeway loop that actually works. but people tend to try spending the least money as possible, which, in most cases, they don't even care about traffic. in montreal, they already marked too many intersections with traffic lights (and they are not even timed equally). prior to 2010, there was an expressway interchange in the montreal-north borough that flowed very well until they decided to destroy it because they didn't want to maintain it. result??? they fucked it up with more stupid traffic lights and a bus rapid transit stop, which the entirety of the pius-ix boulevard was meant to be for bus rapid transit, which they still haven't resumed construction. however, if they complete the bus rapid transit, they'll jam the entirety of the primary highway (primary highway because it's signed as highway 125) by reducing it from six-lane to four-lane, plus they'll remove even more parking space, since most of montreal is built with tightly-placed apartment buildings. reason why they want to build a bus rapid transit from this boulevard (the boulevard crosses the entirety of the island of montreal by northwest/southeast by the way) is because they want to give a better advantage to the poorest communities of canada, which they live all along the boulevard, and they want to encourage public transit, while public transit is already bad in the first place. because of quebec's public transit bullshit along with their unnecessary language bullshit, i'm actually seeking to move out of quebec into somewhere else that doesn't feel too bad in north america

[@fivesquaredyt2521]

Facts

[@alastairdallas]

Everyone loves the deep bore tunnel now--funny how that works.

[@carldombek922]

I was a reporter for a Seattle radio/TV station and covered the Loma Prieta Earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1989 where the Cypress Structure in Oakland collapsed. I insisted we go to the Bay Area precisely because the Cypress Structure was so similar to the Alaskan Way Viaduct (and the Embarcadero across the bay in SF). Even though it wasn't heavily damaged, San Francisco tore down the Embarcadero quite soon after the quake. That it took Seattle nearly 30 YEARS to replace the Alaskan Way viaduct speaks volumes about our culture of having to hold hands and sing Kumbaya before making any decision, no matter how obvious the need.

[@b.kanishkaguluwita1583]

Great attempt in trying to put a rather technical aspect of urban planning into something that would grab a layman's attention. The complexity of the process, on one hand provides us planners some refuge to claim some professional identity, however, at the expense of the inefficiencies of political and bureaucratic systems.

[@tjejojyj]

B. Kanishka Guluwita I agree with this comment on a well put together video. Sub from me.

[@Bebotron13]

Awesome vid, would be great to see an updated video on the waterway!

[@geoffreylee5199]

Seattle process is the same as Toronto process.

[@Leo_Chan]

Gardiner Expressway anyone?

[@purplerabbit638]

Haha i was thinking the same thing

[@wjswlsw]

The result is even worse. Toronto basically do nothing at the end.

[@Altricksss]

The public didn't like the idea of dismantling the Gardiner Expressway. At the moment it works, but just like Seattle it cuts people off from our waterfront hense why we have such an under developed waterfront is some areas.

[@TorontoTransitFan]

Lmao torontonians, TTC anybody?

[@deathbygrapes5]

It's sad to see it go as it is a major iconic feature of Seattle, but it was for the greater good.

[@FlyingDwarfman]

As someone originally from the Seattle area who's left aside from rare visits since 2017, I would love an update on this. The last time I visited was the summer of 2023. That came with hope of seeing the waterfront around Pike Place Market but it was still largely under construction, unfortunately.

[@falloutpictures]

That was a fun project I worked on, I got to go down to Bertha twice, but the project I was on allowed me to walk the streets of Seattle every day, but I must admit, I'm glad that I live in Pierce.

[@notsure6187]

falloutpictures you got to go down on Bertha?

[@ckywizard]

Seattle resident here and I can say a lot of people didn't want the tunnel. It was forced upon us. A lot of people liked the view of the sound while driving. This project was pushed onto the city. Also it may be 2 lanes each way where the viaduct is 3. It won't be fun driving when it is done.

[@tyler7460]

Manuel Diaz, Jr. and the tunnel will also be tolled!

[@ckywizard]

Tyler really? I didn't hear that. Wow now I-5 will be worse

[@tyler7460]

Yep :/ WSDOT is also looking into tolling nearby surface streets, to prevent congestion on the surface from people avoiding the tunnel toll. www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/Viaduct/SR99Tolling www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article180602976.html

[@ckywizard]

Tyler this is fucking gross yet typical. We recently voted on expanding the transit system last year and the pitch was that no federal funding would be used and instead they would raise the money by increasing the registration fee. It passed and then when trump announced the city wouldn't receive funding due to Seattle being a sanctuary city sound transit said they would need more money because they need federal funding.

[@jamesjohnson6309]

Manuel Diaz, Jr. yeah and guess what’s gonna happen when I gotta get to the airport from north seattle to catch a flight on time ? I WILL BE FUCKED! Fuck the viaduct.

[@emptyangel]

I was in Seattle one time and happen to be near at the waterfront... the only thing that has stuck in my mind so far was this very viaduct...

[@gameztopcollectibles]

I'm a huge fan omg I always wondered what you did after the Hangover movies. My favorite actor!

[@eurosonly]

This story is related to the Big Dig story that was a massive disaster over on the east coast. I learned about it in my geology class. There's also a documentary about it somewhere on here.

[@JohnMFlores]

Great stuff. Subscribed!

[@quizplz]

Can you do a video about Bostons "Big Dig" and viaduct removal. You showed a picture of the tunnel in question.

[@jerryromero775]

You should do a follow up video now that the masterplanned project is nearly completed. The walkway from pike place down to the pier opened last week, which is elevated above alaskan way. pretty cool

[@visionary6498]

These videos interest me so much (civil engineering student)

[@visionary6498]

I graduated and live in Seattle.

[@mybronco5437]

well its been a few years now, the very successful tunnel is open and handling as much traffic as that ugly viaduct, then waterfront is transforming into a beautiful butterfly to be proud of !

[@moptisevare183]

I loved the viaduct and wish that they had kept a little section and made it a 2 decker park or something like that. I also realize that the new look is nice and that the change was necessary. people owning those lots must be super happy: their property value went up the roof and they now have a view and far less noise.

[@oopsitsfm]

You should do a video on the downtown connector in Atlanta. They're doing a study to see what options they have to ease traffic on this specific freeway. Some options include tunneling, toll lanes, double stacking, and just covering it all together.

[@BossChronicles]

Wish they offered an online bachelors degree in infrastructure planning

[@roachtoasties]

We're in the home stretch. Soon the waterfront, will look like, um, a waterfront, and not blocked by a giant cement monolith.

[@m322_yt]

Hey, your videos are high quality!

[@chowtime91]

You should do an update with how it turned out 🙂

[@aidanwansbrough7495]

Awesome video! I love this channel!

[@jflow08]

So very informative. Great video!

[@zipWith]

I had no idea the tunnel was 2 miles deep! It certainly doesn’t feel like that going through it

[@waytoobiased]

pretty sure that refers to distance, not elevation

[@zipWith]

@@waytoobiased I'm pretty sure I knew that and was making a boring (ha) joke

[@empyreanb9444]

I watched expecting incorrect information but you nailed it. That's exactly how it happened. Whats next...? Onto court to see who actually has to pay for all the cost overruns...

[@SamMillers2ndChannel]

Can you make a follow up on this video? I see that they finally opened the tunnel and started demolishing the viaduct. Greetings from SF!

[@clintgolub1751]

Bravo! Great overview on this; I've personally hated the way the viaduct ever since I first visited Seattle and how it destroys any sort of waterfront atmosphere.

[@Piemasteratron]

Sorry but "What replacement options *were* considered"

[@PhoenixWwrong]

Rebuild, boulevard, or tunnel

[@toughnut3972]

Tunnel

[@dapper_gent]

the rat trap pig pen.

[@geniuswithacapitalk]

The options that don’t require public opinion cuz people are impossible to satisfy 🤨

[@jakebyday]

Sounds exactly like the Gardiner in Toronto or the Scarborough subway. Those would both be really interesting vids btw.

[@JoshuaHeagleDev]

This reminds me of Toronto's Gardiner Expressway, an elevated expressway along Lake Ontario which runs atop Lakeshore Blvd. The elevated Gardiner is considered a hazard with falling bits of concrete and is continually congested. Much discussion has gone into how to remove or improve parts of the expressway, but no proper solution has been provided yet.

[@JS-cc6dz]

I’m from Seattle. I love the idea. It’s gonna be cool driving under ground

[@kalbossa]

Me too. I'm gonna miss driving northbound on the viaduct 30 feet in the air though

[@mjt2231]

Yeah, wait until the next earthquake hits and the whole tunnel caves in. That'll be fun.

[@squidgrill]

MJT Isn’t a tunnel safer to be in during an earthquake?

[@akzebraminer]

MJT Tunnels are one of the safest places to be in an earthquake. Sorry to disappoint 😉

[@ron117]

finally a positive person

[@asdfgoogle]

if there are so many lanes above ground, the tunnels slugs be dedicated to mass transit and link up under ground with the city center.

[@AmbientMorality]

No, the opposite. Aboveground should be transit heavy where it's in the public view - and transit vehicles improve safety for roads.

[@ipeters61]

I've been interested in transportation planning my whole life and for the first time I joined a transportation committee in my city a few months ago. Now I'm realizing how messy something as simple as transportation policy can be.

[@tonyblackie3277]

Love your vids :) You seemed to be speaking faster on this one? Needed to rewind quite a bit to catch what was being said.

[@Ben942K]

It would have been nice to see exits out of the tunnel that led above ground serving is exits to downtown. That would have satisfied the buses for sure.

[@JosephSarabia]

I hate this eyesore sooo much. Can't wait until it's gone.

[@tudorjason]

Talk about trying to please so many people at once. I'm glad the viaduct will be gone. It was an eyesore and I never drove it as I am too scared of heights.

[@gurindersidhu4306]

Great channel!

[@CityBeautiful]

Thanks!

[@luizalvesRJ]

This is exactly what happened to Perimetral Viaduct in Rio de Janeiro, between 2013 and 2016... Read about it, and if possible, make us a great video explaining the issue Great Channel!

[@jaspboynl8094]

In Maastricht in the Netherlands they also built a tunnel under the city, because the highway was built on street level.

[@MizunoYamato]

I love your work, keep it up!

[@rachelcookie321]

Did they manage to finish it?

[@Chainetic]

The project is not completed yet. The city has built the tunnel and finished demolishing the ugly viaduct, but still needs to work on the boulevard with planting new trees, and a new pedestrian zone like the seawall

[@dirttdude]

i haven't been home in 15 years, i guess i better go inspect this thing

[@flyingmolamola]

the sf transbay terminal was $300 million over budget, and now has been closed for 7 months due to cracks 😢, and a date of reopening is still unknown.

[@tarcal87]

Why is the access to the tunnel at the waterfront...? Why purposely place a traffic jam (or at least high traffic) to a nice waterfront area that also complicates pedestrians' ease of crossing the street? Why not put the access to the downtown side?

[@dantompkins2584]

You know the Viaduct could always be built back after the beautiful park is completed just slimmer covered with vines to blind with the surrounding area 😉👍🙏

[@havek23]

It took them a couple years to decide there's 3 ways of building a road (above, level, or under the ground)? Wow, the public sector is full of geniuses lol

[@bobsteve4812]

Their constituents argued against all of them for a while.

[@demonsagex]

Yeah it's because Seattlites take FOREVER to decide to do something

[@DaKyng105]

What a stupid comment. You obviously have no idea of how much work went into arriving at those three options. They weren't just deciding what options they had, but how specifically those options would have to be built and engineered with consideration to Seattle's geography. These were fully-fledged plans with engineering considerations and feasibility studies conducted. If you don't know what you're talking about, keep your mouth shut. Regardless of how smart you want to make yourself out to be, you'll always come off as an imbecile.

[@mtp160788]

Are you able to do a video for highway 401 in Toronto?

[@oliviaglick7032]

And here I was hoping that the tunnel would be done before I go to college but no such luck

[@ericthomsen9644]

Of course this made all the properties along the route much more valuable once the old viaduct was gone and the view improved. Likely this decision was made in the Rainier Club. CH2MHill had an engineer design a new above ground viaduct that could have been installed a section each night without loss of use, much cheaper, and without all the delays. Now we have loss of the view while driving along the waterfront, tolls, and the delay and incovenience. Should be fun.

[@Mateo-et3wl]

I love your videos

[@komerwest9520]

So do you really wish to be underground during an earthquake?

[@burdizdawurd1516Official]

There's a better option: build a railroad. Let's talk about "My Taxes Wasted"... I mean the Big Dig. Boston traffic has not improved. As a railfan, I calculate that we can move 150% capacity of trains by taking a lane out of I-90 and building Boston Union Station where the Conrail Beacon Park yard used to be. Here's another idea, which works good for a coastal city like Boston or Seattle (except replace east with west). The Eastbound I-90 stops 5 miles outside the city. Traffic will go around to the north and south to Portland and Providence. Then rip out the road, and replace it with a railroad. It's not like the Boston and Albany was there FIRST or anything. People will drive up to the end of the road, park, and use public transportation through the city. Local traffic on the streets only. Problem solved. So the solution is just route traffic AROUND the city. Better yet, get some autoracks and run a few auto trains down the coast.

[@MrJack1992]

burdizdawurd1516 Boston traffic is bad because the city is not designed for cars but foot traffic. It wasn't built on a grid system, or radial system basically it's 100% organic growth. The big dig actually helped the city cope and plan alot of urban renewal and development. What about rail lines you say great for working class but if your working graveyard shift if you get off at 11pm or 12am the train reliability isn't as good. Not every city has 24/7 metro system.

[@adriellcabrera5643]

We already have a railroad, in fact we have Sounder commuter rail, Link light rail, Amtrak Cascades, Empire builder, and Coastal starlight. Sound Transit is also currently building a light rail on the I-90 express lanes instead of ripping the whole freeway. There is also a freeway called I-405, instead of I-5 which goes through Seattle, I-405 goes around Seattle and Lake Washington.

[@RipCityBassWorks]

@@dankadybong7948 You have obviously never ridden public transportation... Just take look at the stats for the likely hood that you will be injured driving vs. injured on public transit...

[@notsure6187]

it will be called west station, not union station.

[@notsure6187]

HuskyJack lmao 100% organic growth? what are you talking about? the only place the streets could be considered organic are fidi and roxbury. everything else was planned for the most part.

[@Gryphonisle]

I remember visiting Seattle during the pre-destruction period. News programs discussing the issue always ended with the same line; someone would discuss a wonderful new proposal (if ONLY we could get rid of the Alaska Way viaduct) and the end consideration was “...but Olympia insists there’s no money”. Washington was simply too cheap to pay for it. I kept hearing how progressive and alert Seattle was, but this always echoed in my mind, that obstinacy to spending money on a worthy program, a very Texas quality in an otherwise progressive city. Then again, when you leave Portland or Seattle, you very quickly realize the City is very, very far away, and The Orangutan’s followers only make that point all the more urgent.

[@deyaniramacias1382]

I believe the SR 99 tunnel has provided benefits in terms of congestion relief and safety but the construction process has been controversial due to the challenges and costs associated with it.

[@jcngokai-76]

The Viaducts of the San Francisco Bay Area wasn’t limited to just San Francisco, the Cypress Viaduct in Oakland was much worse as most of the deaths from the Loma Prieta Earthquake occurred in that section of the freeway. Art Agnostic didn’t waste time to call for the demolition of the Embarcadero Freeway, much to the chagrin of the Chinatown community though promised by city official for a suitable replacement (the much critical and delayed Central Subway project), and the Central Freeway was the center of the biggest legal fights between the western part of the city and Western Addition before the inevitable demolition would happen at the end.

[@abdikarimali7036]

Way to go . Nice content

[@andrewputnam2717]

People are primarily against the corruption that is in the department of transportation and how bad the lightrail project is going despite billions in funding. Not to mention how they were planning on making the freeway and the tunnel tolls for a while

[@KonaSitkaRose]

Very nice research and video! Could you all down your speech for some of us? Thanks!