The dance hall was quiet recently when only 40 people came to the open house for the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Engineers and managers from the state and city departments of transportation stood at displays, ready to answer people's questions about reconnecting surface streets, increasing transit, restriping I-5, and replacing the viaduct itself - the different combinations of building blocks that make up each scenario.

A slide presentation played on a loop. One woman watched.

Most of the staff chatted in pairs, catching up outside the pressure at the office.

"We drew extra people to West Seattle," said Wayne Wentz, the major projects director for the Seattle Department of Transportation. The scoping open house at Fauntleroy Church brought people in from Normandy Park and SeaTac.

"We aren't far enough north here to draw from Shoreline," Wentz said.

"Scoping," as defined on a display board, "is the public process for determining the environmental issues that should be addressed."

An environmental impact statement must include the state's plans to address, both during and after construction, impacts to water, soil and air quality, fish and wildlife habitats, historical and cultural sites, along with affects to transportation, business, communities and neighborhoods, utilities and businesses.

The public may comment on the current scenarios - through e-mail or regular mail - through Sept. 30.

Wanda and Morry Browne, who live in North Beach, made their way through each display, examining maps for the eight scenarios proposed to replace the viaduct.

They're retired now, but when she commuted to work downtown, Wanda drove down Elliott, hopped on the viaduct at Western, then hopped off at First Avenue South.

"All the while I'd think, I hope this thing doesn't fall down on me," she said.

They recently visited San Francisco, and were impressed by the six-lane surface highway replacing the Embarcadero Freeway, a viaduct which pancaked in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Wanda lived in San Francisco in the '60s and can see how the waterfront has been revitalized.

"It now has the nicest urban park," Wanda said. "But they have less traffic than we do."

"I don't think the surface-transit option has enough room for a waterfront like that here," Morry said. "I count 20 traffic lights. I presume they'll have them synchronized."

"And a viaduct is stupid," she said. "Sure the view is nice from the top, but people should be watching the road."

"That's a 1960s kind of solution," he said. "But they'd have to study it a lot more."

"I'm just glad all the solutions include transit," she said. "We need to get out of our cars."

They like the idea of a tunnel, voting against an elevated roadway in March 2007. They spent some time discussing the two scenarios with Bob Chandler, the viaduct program manager with the city's department of transportation.

"I'm glad we don't have to make a decision tonight," Wanda said.

"Well, whatever is done here, it's going to change the face of the city," Morry said.

"It's nice that the executives are working in tandem this time," she said.

"Yeah, It was a food fight before," he said.

Comments can be e-mailed to viaduct@wsdot.wa.gov, or mailed to the Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Replacement Program, 999 Third Ave., Suite 2424, Seattle, WA 98104.

Matthew G. Miller is a freelance writer and may be reached through bnteditor@robinsonnews.com.