I am writing to urge your readers to vote against both replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the abbreviated version of the tunnel plan. It is disappointing to me that the papers have withheld the true facts on the condition of the existing structure. The viaduct is not crumbling at its foundations as stated recently in the Post-Intelligencer.

The facts of the matter are that the viaduct is only falling from the last earthquake in a short section of the viaduct at Yesler Way. This could be fixed by replacing a small section at that location. This section of the viaduct was the only part of the whole structure that was severely damaged by an intense gasoline fire in 1970. The fire was caused by a loaded gasoline truck-trailer, which hit the east column of the viaduct southbound on the lower deck. The fire was so intense that it burn damaged all the high voltage cables serving downtown that were located directly below that roadway. The driver of the truck fell asleep and hit that column. The resulting fire from the burning gasoline weakened all the reinforced concrete there.

I was amazed at the time that the state did not replace that burned section of the structure in 1970. Any engineer knows that steel reinforced concrete will not stand the extreme heat of a major fire. This section of the viaduct is failing for that reason. Large concrete buildings are required to have fireproofing placed over their concrete framing to thwart such a problem.

I know there was such a fire because I was sent down there to that location immediately after the fire at 1 a.m. to assess the damage to the numerous high voltage cables that served power to the downtown. I was an engineer for Seattle City Light. The following morning, I had the job of informing the building owners downtown that they were not going to have any electrical power for an indeterminate time as all the City Light personnel were on strike.

It is probable that the entire structure needs improvements because of other reasons, but competent consulting engineers such as Victor Gray have commented they think it can be economically repaired.

I was involved with the construction of the project in 1951 indirectly as I was employed to implement the moving and removing of City Light facilities to clear the way for construction.

I am sure the engineers who designed the viaduct incorporated provisions for earthquakes. There was a large earthquake several years prior to the construction of the viaduct. Subsequently, there have been several earthquakes more severe so undoubtedly the structure needs some improvement.

Also, the designers of the existing viaduct were well aware that they were building in a liquification area. I had reviewed plans for the viaduct and observed that they installed many concrete piles of more than 120-feet in length under each column and they were driven until they rejected any further driving. I am sure the viaduct is stronger than the many other overhead structures around town that are also in liquification areas. It is to the credit of city and state engineers that they have attempted to improve them.

In recent years, a local geologist named Brian Attwater has determined that a catastrophic earthquake occurred about a thousand years ago due to a fault in the ground that extends from Restoration Point on Bainbridge Island eastward across the city at about Atlantic Street (near the stadium site). This earthquake resulted in the land north of it to depress and was noted by excavations for the West Point sewer plant. The shore there sank about 50 feet, indicated by driftwood buried that deep. A tidal wave was detected which scattered sand inland on the south end of Whidbey Island. Other indications were landslides on the east shore of Lake Washington, which buried a small forest under the lake there.

Such an earthquake would undoubtedly do catastrophic damage to many structures, buildings and homes that were constructed to the requirements of earlier codes or, in many cases, no code.

The failure of the existing viaduct would be unnoticed. In a word, we are all taking a chance on a catastrophe by living here. Let's hope the big one doesn't come for another 1,000 years and, by that time, the present viaduct, improved, will probably be long gone.

Calvin F. Bannon

Fauntleroy