Viaduct Demolition Provides Jobs But....

Construction sector job prospects should improve in the Seattle area as demolition of the old Alaskan Way Viaduct began a week ago and the preliminary excavation for boring a tunnel to replace it will commence next year.

Mirroring the employment situation nationally, almost one-third of Seattle’s job losses during the recession occurred in the construction industry. Consequently,despite the funding problems with the project (particularly the potentially crippling plan for cost overruns), this is a positive development. More people working means a more assured and confident society.

But after viewing pictures of wrecking equipment smashing through this crumbling highway structure yesterday, it’s tough not to feel a bit glum for this 60 year-old staple of Seattle’s waterfront.

It was a freeway with a view. You didn’t need a window office in a downtown skyscraper to get a pretty spectacular sight of the ships in Eliot Bay or the Olympic mountains across Puget Sound, you could just head north on the top deck of highway 99.

So, as it often goes with progress, a piece of the old-times becomes a memory.