By Jean Godden
If the late, mostly unloved Alaskan Way Viaduct had been human, he -- I think it was a "he" -- would be getting social security and Medicare. The viaduct that kept Seattle fenced from its beautiful deep-water harbor was tired, creaky and 66 years old.
It is shocking that what some called "the city's worst mistake" was allowed to stand so many years, blighting city landscape. It is equally hard to believe that the jury-rigged structure managed to stay upright after it was rattled by two strong earthquakes.
The Viaduct didn't rate a memorial service, but it did have a rollicking sendoff. At the scheduled 10 p.m. closure on January 11, Seattleites crowded both decks, honking horns, dancing in the roadway and watching fireworks. It was a better farewell than the eroding roadway deserved. Heck, there was even a next-day event with hundreds ignoring yellow caution tape and trespassing onto the highway's remains.