“Why a duck, why a no chicken?”*
~ Chico Marx, The Cocoanuts
The Alaskan Way Viaduct in downtown Seattle is about to be demolished. In its place is a tunnel that’s set to open tomorrow. The Viaduct is an ugly elevated highway that’s a physical and visual barrier to the waterfront. The Nisqually Earthquake of 2001 damaged the infrastructure to the point that the city and state decided it had to come down lest it pancake on cars similar to the Embarcadero during the 1988 San Francisco Quake.
Yesterday was the public’s opportunity to say goodbye to the structure. The city hosted a 5K run along its length. It also had an arts exposition. See this link for details. The original celebration was by ticket only, but during the afternoon a walk on the Viaduct was open to anyone. Here’s The Seattle Times article. Julian and I walked about 50 yards on it and left. I’d walked on it before for Heart Walks and the Race for the Cure. Julian observed it was so crowded, one would think they were handing out free doughnuts. Or, since this is Seattle, doobies.
*I’ve been waiting for four years to use a line from a Marx Brothers movie in a blog post!
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