Alaskan Way Viaduct and Battery Street Tunnel, Seattle, King County, WA

Significance: The Alaskan Way Viaduct is significant for its double-deck configuration, the first such bridge built in the state of Washington. The structure encompasses two different designs and crosses over highly complex subsurface conditions, supported throughout its length on pile foundations.

The Battery Street Tunnel was the City of Seattle Engineering Department's first venture into tunnel design. It was designed and built to minimize traffic disruption and reduce risk to neighboring buildings. Its health and safety features were innovative at the time, including a ventilation system actuated by carbon monoxide monitors and a heat-actuated automatic sprinkler system.

The viaduct and the tunnel played an important role in the development of Seattle and the region by providing a direct connection through downtown Seattle and to the industrial areas to the south.

Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N1131

Survey number: HAER WA-184

Building/structure dates: 1949-1966 Initial Construction

transportation engineering transportation tunnels seattle alaskan way viaduct alaskan way viaduct battery tunnel battery street tunnel washington state king county j w a bollong justine christianson city of seattle engineering department r w finke historic american engineering record mcrae brothers inc morrison knudsen company ray murray northwest engineering electric company pacific car and foundry rumsey and company george stevens washington department of highways bridge division washington state department of transportation willar construction company photo ultra high resolution high resolution historic american landscapes survey historic american buildings survey double deck library of congress

1933 - 1970

Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/

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