Seattle votes on Tuesday about the Viaduct Freeway vs. Tunnel

By Cheryl Hatch, AP file. More than 100,000 vehicles a day travel Seattle's 2-mile-long Alaskan Way Viaduct, seen here in 2000, which was built in the '50s.

The example of the revitalization of the San Francisco waterfront after the Embarcadero Freeway was dismantled ought to be a good lesson for cities thinking about getting rid of freeways. Seoul, Korea did the same thing with similar, excellent, results.

On the other hand, Boston's Tunnel--the Big Dig--has been problematic in terms of massive cost overruns and inadequate construction, which led to a death last year from falling ceiling tiles (made out of concrete).

USA Today reports on the vote in the article "Viaduct splits Seattle, state."

Ferry Building and the Embarcadero Freeway, San Francisco. Photo: Roma Design.


A clarinet player entertains passersby at San Francisco's restored Ferry Building. SF Chronicle photo by Michael Macor.