Let’s remember when the final phase of the Alaskan Way Viaduct opened, on this day in 1959 (September 3)
Sixty years ago today, motorists had their first opportunity to drive across the entire Viaduct.
Per Phil Dougherty of HistoryLink:
On September 3, 1959, the final phase of the 3.8-mile long Alaskan Way Viaduct and Battery Street Subway project is opened to traffic. Constructed in three phases during the 1950s, the viaduct and tunnel are intended to alleviate traffic problems along Seattle’s waterfront and through the downtown area. Although the viaduct is widely hailed in the 1950s as the solution to the traffic problem, by the 1970s it will itself be considered a problem; an eyesore to the Seattle waterfront and unable to withstand a big earthquake.
He elaborates:
Construction on the third, final phase of the project — and also the longest at just shy of two miles — began in October 1955, and was completed in August 1959 at a cost of $7,626,100. The final phase, called the Spokane Street Extension or simply the southern extension, extended the viaduct from its previous southern end near Dearborn Street to just north of S Nevada Street.
On Thursday, September 3, 1959, the new extension opened in ceremonies held on the West Spokane Street overpass. The 1959 opening ceremonies seem to have been slightly more subdued than the first two. Still, there was a band, pontificating speakers, and Seafair Queen du jour Diane Gray, resplendent in white gloves, who cut the ceremonial ribbon. Also featured was an enormous newspaper “page” with cutout windows featuring a bevy of beauty queens, as well as a large door through which the ceremonial first car, a white 1908 Buick convertible, drove to officially open the extension (the running board of this car was used as a speaker’s stand during the dedication ceremonies). Six more antique cars followed the 1908 Buick on its drive along the new extension to share honors at being first over the new extension. Afterward, William A. Bugge (1900–1992), state highway director, was named 1959 “Motorist Man of the Year” at a luncheon for his leadership in highway progress in Washington state, which included supervising the building of the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
Read the whole thing:
