People stop, watch final piece of viaduct along waterfront come down

The final piece of the Viaduct along the waterfront came down, and work finished early Saturday night.

KIRO 7 was along the waterfront watching people pull out their phones to capture what’s really a piece of Seattle history.

Seattle natives and tourists were stopping to stare at a large piece of machinery, which looks like a chomping mouth, eating at the concrete and ripping through rebar. Some even watched for hours.

Demolition of the viaduct started nine months ago after it was shut down in January.

Drone 7 was there as the same machine that was working Saturday started setting up last winter. Now the final piece is gone.

West Seattle resident Linda Fane said: “Just reflecting on it, thinking it’s been a decade of planning and debating and now we have an open waterfront. There’s nothing like seeing it for yourself. It’s like a new era in Seattle history.”

There will be more demolition work to continue, which is not along the waterfront.

Crews are still working to remove a big chunk of the viaduct over the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad tracks between Pine and Lenora streets. That work is expected to continue through the fall.