Friday marked the beginning of the end for the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

UPDATE: Under the eerie glow of floodlights, the state Transportation Department began demolishing the nearly 60-year-old northbound on-ramp from First Avenue South at 7 p.m. It is the first piece of the viaduct to be torn down. The work will continue through Monday.

“I think the general comment was…well, no going back now, is there,” said Matt Preedy, the viaduct replacement program’s director of south end projects. “You could look at this in two ways — the beginning of the end, or a new beginning,” he said.

Preedy said the viaduct had served its purpose well for 60 years but it was now a public safety hazard. “The sooner it gets replaced, the better,” he said.

As a large excavator smashed through the elevated concrete roadway, I spoke with City Councilman Tom Rasmussen, who said he felt a bit nostalgic as the first section came down. The transportation committee chair said he’s looking forward to the changes to come, and is thinking about the challenges ahead in routing traffic through major construction.

The old ramp likely will be fully demolished by Saturday. That stretch of First Avenue will remain closed until 5 a.m. on Tuesday. After the old ramp is gone, crews will finish building a new on-ramp connecting northbound Highway 99 to South Royal Brougham Way. WSDOT plans to finish construction and reopen the ramp by April 1 to avoid disrupting traffic during the baseball season.

Earlier this week, WSDOT finished reconfiguring the southbound off-ramp to connect traffic with Royal Brougham instead of First Avenue.

“After a decade of talking about it, we’re starting to bring down the vulnerable viaduct before Mother Nature does it for us,” Gov. Chris Gregoire said in a news release. “This month marks the 10-year anniversary of the Nisqually earthquake and this significant milestone represents great partnership and progress for our region.”

Drivers should expect to see several changes over the next few months as crews begin preparation work for demolishing the entire southern mile of the double-deck viaduct and replacing it with a new six-lane highway. The southern mile will be torn down ahead of the waterfront portion through downtown, which the state plans to replace with a $1.9 billion deep-bore tunnel. Tunnel construction, which can’t begin until final approval by federal authorities, isn’t expected to begin until later this year.

The highway, part of the $483 million Holgate to King Street project, is slated to open in late 2012. The new ramps then will connect the central viaduct to the new highway until the viaduct closes for good and the tunnel opens in 2015 or 2016.

More planned closures on or near First Avenue are as follows:

7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 18 through 5 a.m. Monday, Feb. 21: The southbound Highway 99 off-ramp to South Royal Brougham Way will be closed.

7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 18 through 5 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 22: First Avenue South will be closed between South Royal Brougham Way and South King Street. Railroad Way South will be closed between Occidental Avenue South and South King Street.

In other viaduct news, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn on Thursday did as expected and vetoed legislation that approves agreements between the city and state that allow the tunnel project to proceed. The veto is largely symbolic since the City Council is expected to override it. Rasmussen said that vote is scheduled for Feb. 28.

Lastly, there was a huge turnout Thursday night at the Seattle Aquarium to hear from renowned landscape architect James Comer, whose firm won a $6 million contract to design a new park and public space along a viaduct-less waterfront. In an interview with seattlepi.coms’ Chris Grygiel, he said he sees the waterfront on many different scales.

“You zoom in a little more, there’s the scale of the city. The way to see the different districts, the different streets. And then there’s the fine grain scale – of just being on the waterfront. The scale of the human body relative to the water level. Whether there are certain opportunities to touch the water at some locations or to have better connections back into the city.” Corner said. “One idea we’re very keen on…people maybe think Downtown is the center of the City. Maybe Elliott Bay might be a new center as the waterfront becomes the new frontage of the city, the new platform.”



