One tunnel opens, another closes: Battery Street Tunnel shuts down for good at 10 p.m. Friday

A car drives southbound out of the Battery Street Tunnel towards the Alaskan Way Viaduct on Sunday, Mar. 5, 2017. A car drives southbound out of the Battery Street Tunnel towards the Alaskan Way Viaduct on Sunday, Mar. 5, 2017. Photo: Lindsey Wasson, Seattlepi.com Photo: Lindsey Wasson, Seattlepi.com Image 1 of / 41 Caption Close One tunnel opens, another closes: Battery Street Tunnel shuts down for good at 10 p.m. Friday 1 / 41 Back to Gallery

As one tunnel prepares to open, another prepares to close.

The Battery Street Tunnel will close for good at 10 p.m. Friday. By the Monday morning commute, the new state Route 99 tunnel is expected to open.

The Seattle City Council decided to seal the Battery Street Tunnel in March 2018 in a 7-1 vote. The tunnel will eventually be filled with dirt and debris from the demolition of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, which is also expected to begin next week.

Both the Battery Street Tunnel and Alaskan Way Viaduct were constructed in the 1950s -- and were not considered seismically sound by today's standards. The viaduct, which first opened in 1953, was damaged in the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, a magnitude 6.8 event. The elevated highway required expensive repairs and bi-annual checkups.

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The Battery Street Tunnel, opened one year after the Alaskan Way Viaduct, was also in need of seismic updates to the tune of tens of millions of dollars before any alternative could be considered for the tunnel, Seattle Department of Transportation officials told the Seattle City Council last year. So, filling and sealing it was ultimately what was decided.

The closure of the Battery Street Tunnel also marks the beginning of work to rebuild Aurora Avenue and reconnect Harrison, Thomas and John streets -- three streets that were previously cut off by SR-99.

This work is set to begin this month and continue through mid-2020, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation's website.

RELATED: DeMay: As the Alaskan Way Viaduct closes, so closes a chapter of Seattle history

Meanwhile, crews were also preparing to open the new SR-99 tunnel before the Monday morning commute. The opening will require about 72-hours of around-the-clock work, but officials said Thursday that they were "very confident" the official transition will happen by Monday morning.

Though, as Dave Sowers, deputy administrator of the Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Program put it, "there is still a lot going on."

RELATED: The end of 'viadoom' is near: New SR-99 tunnel set to open Monday

Officials also encourage motorists to learn where the tunnel will take them before trying to drive it.

Producer Natalie Guevara can be contacted at natalie.guevara@seattlepi.com. Follow her on Twitter. Find more from Natalie on her author page.