Alaskan Way Viaduct demolition hits delays in central core

The demolition of the Alaskan Way Viaduct is taking longer than expected, with at least “a couple weeks” of delays expected for the central section of the now-closed roadway.

RELATED: Alaskan Way Viaduct officially starts to come down

Ivar’s president Bob Donegan told The Seattle Times that the demolition process for the large, central section will likely take until June 22, weeks later than the original June 1 target date set by Kiewit Infrastructure West.

“It’s disappointing, that when someone gives you a commitment and doesn’t fulfill it, especially in our busiest period during the summer,” Donegan told the Times.

In February, crews estimated that the removal of each deck section would take 0.6 days. In reality, it’s taken between 1.3 and 1.7 days.

According to WSDOT’s live demolition tracker (last updated April 12), just a handful of sections down near Pike Place Market have been completely removed and restored since the project began back in February.

Demolition at the northern end of the viaduct extending down to Lenora is currently in the final “site restoration” phase before completion, while work has yet to begin on the southern end past Yesler Way.

WSDOT is now “looking for efficiencies to speed up the work,” and hopes that delays for the central core of sections will be limited to less than three weeks.

When it’s all said in done, almost two miles of roadway will be removed, comprised of 400 columns, and 61,000 cubic yards of concrete, weighing 122,000 tons. The hope is to have the entire viaduct removed by the end of summer in August.

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