Alaskan Way Viaduct 13

Washington State Department of Transportation workers perform a semiannual inspection of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, due to be torn down in 2012. The viaduct, built in 1953, carries 100.000 vehicles a day. The 2001 Nisqually earthquake damaged the viaduct and shook and seawall. It is said that another earthquake of the same scale would possibly take the viaduct down, making it a great public hazard. The whole issue is very controversial. On one side there are people who propose that it be repaired. The DOT claims that the viaduct is in such a bad shape that the only way to repair it would be to rebuild it. Which is something many oppose, promarily real estate developers who see the opportunity to develop the area the viaduct occupies. The final solution is yet to be determined. What is known is that the work to take down the viaduct on central waterfornt is beginning in 2012.