The Alaskan Way Viaduct was an elevated highway in Seattle which was completed in 1966 after 16 years of construction and decades of planning. The double-decked highway ran along the Elliott Bay waterfront above the surface street, Alaskan Way, following previously existing railroad lines. The viaduct provided Seattle with its first bypass route around the downtown business district. The viaduct was damaged in the 2001 Nisqually earthquake and was replaced by a tunnel in 2019.
This image was taken facing northwest and looking from street level up to the viaduct at the intersection of Railroad Avenue, First Avenue, and Dearborn Street, in the Pioneer Square neighborhood of downtown Seattle. The wedge-shaped building on the right, the Flatiron Building, still stands as of 2024.
Caption information source: "Alaskan Way Viaduct, Part 3: Building the Viaduct," by Jennifer Ott, HistoryLink.org Essay 9978 Caption information source: http://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/4998 Caption information source: https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/seattle/s30.htm
ID Number: SHS3978
Date: 1960
Physical Description: 1 photographic print mounted on cardboard: b&w ; 7 x 9.5 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
