From Milepost to Milestone: Innovative Mitigation
Since the 1950s, the Alaskan Way Viaduct has served as a bypass for motorists traveling on State Route (S.R.) 99 through Seattle. A 2001 earthquake caused the viaduct to settle as much as 5.5 inches (12.7 cm) in some areas, which led transportation officials to plan an replacement for the aging structure. The chosen solution, a tunnel, would place the highway beneath the city, reopening the waterfront area for other uses, but bringing major construction activities to Seattle's Pioneer Square-Skid Road Historic District. Historic preservationists, community advocates, and business owners feared that having a major construction project on the edge of a nationally designated historic district would drive away tourists and customers visiting businesses in Seattle's first neighborhood. To mitigate potential adverse effects on the neighborhood, as part of a Section 106 memorandum of agreement, the Federal Highway Administration and the Washington State Department of Transportation committed to opening an information center in the heart of the neighborhood. According to the agreement, the goal of the center is to draw visitors to Pioneer Square during construction and educate them about the past, present, and future of the neighborhood, highlighting the area's unique historical and archaeological features as well as engineering aspects of the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement project. The center's name, Milepost 31, refers to the milepost on S.R. 99 where the tunnel will begin to travel under Pioneer Square and, thus, where the neighborhood's future meets its past. This article summarizes both the tunnel construction project and the development of the Milepost 31 information center.
- Record URL:
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Availability:
- Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/1586080
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Authors:
- Bartoy, Kevin M
- Publication Date: 2013-1
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Print
- Features: Illustrations; Photos;
- Pagination: pp 20-27
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Serial:
- Public Roads
- Volume: 76
- Issue Number: 4
- Publisher: Federal Highway Administration
- ISSN: 0033-3735
- Serial URL: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/
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Publication flags:
Open Access (libre)
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Case studies; Construction projects; Historic sites; Museums; Public information programs; Tourism; Vehicular tunnels
- Geographic Terms: Seattle (Washington)
- Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Construction; Highways; History; I54: Construction of Tunnels;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01470902
- Record Type: Publication
- Files: TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
- Created Date: Jan 30 2013 9:01AM