Picture this: Alaskan Way Viaduct on-ramp reduced to rubble

Last weekend our communications team, video and still cameras in hand, documented crews crushing the almost 60-year-old SR 99 northbound on-ramp at First Avenue S. into bits.

Check out the time lapse photos of the demolition:



For those of you with more than 16 seconds on your hands, we pulled this cool two-minute and 24 second video together:



With a piece of the Alaskan Way Viaduct now gone forever, the race is on to build a replacement on-ramp to northbound SR 99 from S. Royal Brougham Way.

Drivers will enter from S. Royal Brougham Way between First Avenue S. and Alaskan Way S. when the new on-ramp opens. The ramp change will work as part of an SR 99 detour that will keep SR 99 open and traffic moving when crews demolish the viaduct south of S. Dearborn Street in 2012.

SR 99 off-ramp demolished 4


Our goal is to open the replacement on-ramp by April 1, before the Mariners’ April 8 home opener and all but two Sounders FC matches. This means there will not be a northbound on-ramp near the stadiums for up to six weeks.

Don’t fret. We’ve got you covered with a map of alternate SR 99 northbound on-ramps in the area...

...and more photos on the way.