The Columbia Street Onramp is Gone

The Alaskan Way Viaduct still stands for another few months before it’s torn down after being replaced by a tunnel

The Journal Building has stood there since 1895, home to a variety of newspapers including the current Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce. This is the first time since 1953 that the Columbia Street onramp isn’t next to it with cars roaring past heading South out of Seattle.

The Alaskan Way Viaduct still stands for another few months before it’s torn down after being replaced by a tunnel. The double-decker, elevated highway along Seattle’s waterfront was permanently closed on January 11. This is another in a series of articles concerning it and was taken at the corner of Columbia and Post avenue, a historic area of the Pioneer Square neighborhood.

For a then and now, see a street view of the intersection

also this drone perspective with the last section of the onramp being removed.

The Columbia Street onramp is gone now while Seattle continues to reinvent itself. And, this time without an elevated highway on the waterfront.

On the left, rebar looks like branches. The middle is the viaduct as seen from Post Alley and the last section of the onramp still in place.

However ugly the broken concrete and exposed rebar is, it’s part of our shared Pacific Northwest experience. One that’s proving to be an economic boost for an already booming town.

Viaduct gold rush: Big money flows into area around doomed Seattle highway