Alaskan Way Viaduct

E514992

elevated highway former transportation infrastructure

The Alaskan Way Viaduct was an elevated highway along Seattle’s waterfront that carried a section of State Route 99 before being demolished due to seismic vulnerability and replaced by a tunnel.

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All labels observed (8)

Label	Occurrences
Alaskan Way Viaduct canonical	2
Alaskan Way Viaduct (former elevated highway)	1
Alaskan Way Viaduct (former)	1
Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement and waterfront redevelopment program	1
Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement corridor	1
Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel (SR 99 tunnel)	1
Alaskan Way Viaduct with State Route 99 Tunnel	1
SR 99 Tunnel in Seattle	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T5377787 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Alaskan Way Viaduct
Context triple: [Alaskan Way, formerlyServedBy, Alaskan Way Viaduct]

A. Spokane Street Viaduct
The Spokane Street Viaduct is an elevated roadway in Seattle that connects Interstate 5 to the West Seattle Bridge, carrying traffic over the SoDo industrial district.
B. Sixth Street Viaduct
The Sixth Street Viaduct is an iconic Los Angeles bridge known for spanning the downtown area and connecting the Arts District with Boyle Heights.
C. Park Avenue Viaduct
The Park Avenue Viaduct is an elevated roadway in Midtown Manhattan that carries traffic around Grand Central Terminal, connecting Park Avenue across 42nd Street.
D. SR 520 Bridge
The SR 520 Bridge is a major floating bridge across Lake Washington in Seattle, Washington, known as one of the longest floating bridges in the world and a key link between Seattle and its eastern suburbs.
E. Riverside Drive Viaduct
Riverside Drive Viaduct is an elevated steel and concrete roadway structure in Manhattan that carries Riverside Drive above the Amtrak rail lines and low-lying areas along the Hudson River.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Alaskan Way Viaduct
Target entity description: The Alaskan Way Viaduct was an elevated highway along Seattle’s waterfront that carried a section of State Route 99 before being demolished due to seismic vulnerability and replaced by a tunnel.

A. Spokane Street Viaduct
The Spokane Street Viaduct is an elevated roadway in Seattle that connects Interstate 5 to the West Seattle Bridge, carrying traffic over the SoDo industrial district.
B. Sixth Street Viaduct
The Sixth Street Viaduct is an iconic Los Angeles bridge known for spanning the downtown area and connecting the Arts District with Boyle Heights.
C. Park Avenue Viaduct
The Park Avenue Viaduct is an elevated roadway in Midtown Manhattan that carries traffic around Grand Central Terminal, connecting Park Avenue across 42nd Street.
D. SR 520 Bridge
The SR 520 Bridge is a major floating bridge across Lake Washington in Seattle, Washington, known as one of the longest floating bridges in the world and a key link between Seattle and its eastern suburbs.
E. Riverside Drive Viaduct
Riverside Drive Viaduct is an elevated steel and concrete roadway structure in Manhattan that carries Riverside Drive above the Amtrak rail lines and low-lying areas along the Hudson River.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	elevated highway ⓘ former transportation infrastructure ⓘ
adjacentTo	Elliott Bay NERFINISHED ⓘ Seattle waterfront NERFINISHED ⓘ
carried	motor vehicle traffic ⓘ north–south traffic through downtown Seattle ⓘ
closedToTraffic	2019 ⓘ
connectedTo	Battery Street Tunnel (former) NERFINISHED ⓘ Spokane Street Viaduct NERFINISHED ⓘ
constructionStart	1950 ⓘ
country	United States ⓘ linked to: United States of America
crosses	rail yards along Seattle waterfront ⓘ
demolitionEnd	2019 ⓘ
demolitionStart	2019 ⓘ
environmentalImpact	obstructed views of Elliott Bay ⓘ
length	approximately 2.0 miles ⓘ approximately 3.2 kilometers ⓘ
locatedIn	Seattle NERFINISHED ⓘ Seattle waterfront NERFINISHED ⓘ Washington (state) ⓘ linked to: Washington
lowerDeckDirection	southbound ⓘ
maintainedBy	Washington State Department of Transportation NERFINISHED ⓘ
namedAfter	Alaskan Way NERFINISHED ⓘ
notableFor	controversy over replacement options ⓘ major component of Seattle’s waterfront freeway system ⓘ
opened	1953 ⓘ
ownedBy	State of Washington NERFINISHED ⓘ
parallelTo	Elliott Bay shoreline NERFINISHED ⓘ
partOf	State Route 99 NERFINISHED ⓘ U.S. Highway system (state route component) NERFINISHED ⓘ
passesNear	Belltown NERFINISHED ⓘ Pioneer Square NERFINISHED ⓘ
passesThrough	Downtown Seattle NERFINISHED ⓘ
projectName	Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Program NERFINISHED ⓘ
reasonForDemolition	earthquake safety concerns ⓘ seismic vulnerability ⓘ
replacedBy	Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement tunnel NERFINISHED ⓘ State Route 99 tunnel NERFINISHED ⓘ
roadCarried	Washington State Route 99 NERFINISHED ⓘ
significantEvent	damaged in 2001 Nisqually earthquake ⓘ
status	demolished ⓘ
structureType	double-deck elevated freeway ⓘ
tunnelLocation	beneath downtown Seattle ⓘ
tunnelType	bored road tunnel ⓘ
upperDeckDirection	northbound ⓘ
urbanImpact	separated downtown Seattle from its waterfront ⓘ
vulnerableTo	major earthquakes ⓘ

How these facts were elicited