Well, as like most things, it depends on who you ask. Admittedly, major sections of the highway will collapse in a strong enough earthquake with a direct hit on the city, although it has survived several smaller / less direct earthquakes in my lifetime. The real estate space that it takes up is valuable--for development into (yet more) condos in the downtown area. But overall, I think the highway gets a bad rap. For instance, we used it almost every day when we were visiting Seattle--it is the highway that turns into Aurora Avenue North--this is the street that our hotel was located on and we drove fairly quickly and easily from the south end (ie, my parent's house) up to the North end (Greenlake) using the Alaskan Way Viaduct / Highway 99 / Aurora Avenue North. If it was taken down, our only viable option for going North / South (and Seattle is a N/S city because of the hills) would be to take I-5, which is often slow, dangerous (some sections quite dangerous) and clogged with traffic. The section of the viaduct that traverses the downtown area is elevated and the area underneath has not gone to total waste--it is actively used for businesses, commercial parking, and even sections of the Pike Place Market.

In my option, the fact that the Viaduct is there takes away a lot of surface traffic from the downtown core, which makes it much more walkable and enjoyable for pedestrians. Now if they tore down the Viaduct and REPLACED it with a monorail train system and / or underground subway system, I would be on board for that, in fact it would be pretty cool. But this is where local politics get tricky--the voters approved a VERY-POPULAR-WITH-THE-PEOPLE mass transit system almost ten years ago--they passed it into law (if I remember my history correctly here) but then the state said that it had no money for the project and it when into either perma-delay or was shut down entirely. Maybe the construction that we witnessed down by the airport is the surviving-half-bastard-step child of the original project.

That is probably a longer answer than what you were looking for, but in conclusion, no, I don't think it should be torn down until the state / city comes up with more real, feasible, & funded solutions to transportation in the Seattle area. Complete the promised light rail system connecting the downtown core, and then take down the Viaduct, and devote at least 1/4 of the re-claimed land to public space / public parks / the arts.

Driving north on the Brucker to the Bruckner/Sheridan interchange, doesn't it seem as if the Sheridan is the main route and the continuation of the Bruckner the diverging route?

In that sense, it is sort of like the little-used Richmond Parkway.

I've heard from long-time Baysiders that the particular stretch along the CIP was host to mansions and hotels and get this - an actual beach!!! before they threw up the CIP. I'm pretty sure the Crocheron Park/Golden Park section of Bayside overlooking the CIP is where Boss Tweed hid out before he absconded.

Anyways, I think a Sunday Closure would be wonderful, and might actually help people to walk and wonder at the natural environment that they zip past every day.

The whole CIP/Belt system is long overdue for a overhaul/retirement. In the case of CIP an overhaul is pointless because the parkway is redundant. The section south of the GCP is a bit more complex of a situation, as the Clearview ends at Hillside Ave.

Do you think anyone at QCPGS would be interested in this idea?

-joby

What about the Cross Island Parkway from the Clearview to the LIE, since the Clearview is there, the CIP is pointless.

Genius, Joby! It's even pointless further south, as far as the Grand Central, since it's a parkway too. And that part of the CIP is the part that most interferes with the recreational and natural environment. Imagine walking through Alley Pond Park or along the Little Neck Bay without the parkway! At the very least, it could be closed on Sundays.

I wonder if we could get support for this from the Queens Coalition for Parks and Green Spaces?

She should be using the Sheridan removal as an example of her agency's commitment to smart growth.

That's great news! What is the best way to support this happening?

Rt. 29 is on there!

Luckly NJDOT agrees and from what I know they have plans to eliminate it and integrate Rt 29 back onto the surface streets, opening up the Delaware River waterfront to parks and redevelopment.

After visiting Seattle 2 years ago (I had to miss ProWalk/ProBike this year) I couldn't believe what a retched thing the Alaska Highway was. Just nasty! Gray, filthy and crumbling, totally blocking the beautiful old buildings from spectacular views of Puget Sound.