Viadoom

Last weekend, Alaskan Way Viaduct closed in downtown Seattle.  This was one of the main routes through Seattle, so all the local media and officials warned of "mega commutes" as traffic adjusted.  Since this is on the waterfront side of Seattle, not where I work, I wasn't expecting to be impacted as much as others - though the volume of traffic that uses I-5 as I do was expected to increase.  And what happened over the week?  If anything, the traffic was better than normal.  I don't know if this was because more people were working from home (I know a lot of people at work didn't come in last week because they live in neighborhoods like West Seattle whose commutes are directly affected), more people were using public transport, more people were adjusting their commute times to leave earlier (and I was leaving later) or whether this was just a storm in a teacup.  Either way, with the closure it is going to be interesting to see how the Seattle downtown waterfront develops - could become very nice down there.  It will also be interesting to see how much use the tunnel gets that was built to replace the viaduct - it opens in few weeks' time, but is going to have a toll.  After SR-520 added a bridge toll - one of the main routes east out of Seattle, and incidentally the only place I've ever been pulled over for speeding - I've never been on it since.