Designers illustrate visions for a viaduct-free waterfront

By Susan Gilmore
Seattle Times staff reporter

	LESLEY BAIN / ALLIED ARTS What would Seattle's waterfront look like without the Alaskan Way Viaduct? Architect Lesley Bain, envisions a Pike Place walkway.
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Imagine a viaduct-free waterfront with an outdoor movie screen, a hill overlooking Safeco Field and a school.

Mix in a promenade from the Pike Place Market to the Seattle Aquarium, a grocery market and canals carved into Pioneer Square.

Six architectural firms and a University of Washington design class did just that, etching their vision for the Seattle waterfront when the Alaskan Way Viaduct is gone.

Not if, but when.

"We will never build another viaduct," said architect Dennis Haskell, one of those who presented their vision yesterday in the offices of Mithun Architects on Pier 56. "Politically and emotionally, people will never go for it. I guarantee it. If we did we'd be going back to the Stone Age."

But replacing the viaduct is likely years away. Other than some preliminary-design and environmental-review funds, there's no money for a new road. New cost estimates released last July say a new viaduct would cost between $2.5 billion and $4.1 billion depending on which option is chosen.

The most-expensive one is a tunnel through the central waterfront, and that's what the architects based their designs on.

The designs would not be possible if the viaduct were simply replaced with another bridge, said Philip Wohlstetter, past president of Allied Arts, which sponsored the collaborative effort.

	DAVIDYA KASPERZYK / ALLIED ARTS Architect Davidya Kasperzyk envisions floating walkways for visitors on a viaduct-free waterfront in Seattle.

Even though there is no money for viaduct replacement, it's important to have designs in place, he said, "rather than let inertia and market forces dictate. The whole purpose is to start a public discussion on what kind of waterfront we want."

Wohlstetter called yesterday's presentation not a blueprint but an "anthology."

He said designers should try to avoid mistakes, citing as an example the two sports stadiums south of downtown. He said Seahawks Stadium and Safeco Field are in the wrong places; Safeco should be the one closest to downtown Seattle because it's used more often.

David Yeaworth, president of Allied Arts, said more than 50 design professionals donated more than $200,000 of their time to create visions of the waterfront. "Now is the time to think big and dream," he said.

Designers followed three guidelines: The viaduct will be removed, all traffic through Seattle will be below or away from the waterfront, and human activity will take priority over cars.

Among other proposals were a "great lawn" park at Pike Street and Alaskan Way, a park on top of a new ferry terminal and a saltwater swimming pool and basketball court on Piers 52 and 63.

Another idea would be what designers call a "Spill Hill" — a hill that spills from the Pike Place Market to a park by the Aquarium.

The 2001 Nisqually earthquake caused major damage to the viaduct, which was built in 1953 and now carries 110,000 cars a day.

The only money dedicated to replacing the viaduct is $177 million as part of the new nickel-a-gallon gas-tax increase. Money to help build a new viaduct is expected to be part of a still-undetermined Regional Transportation Investment District package that will seek to raise taxes for regional projects. But it won't pay for all of a viaduct replacement.

The state in July came up with five viaduct options, ranging from rebuilding it, to a new aerial structure, to a surface street and two tunnel options.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com

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