As part of the Alaskan Way Viaduct Removal Program, the Battery Street Tunnel will be decommisioned and filled to effect the permanent closure of the tunnel. With the Alaskan Way Viaduct closed, SR 99 no longer runs through the Battery Street Tunnel. Like the viaduct, the tunnel was built in the 1950s and is seismically vulnerable. Any new or continued use of the tunnel would require prohibitively expensive renovations. Closing the Battery Street Tunnel also allows WSDOT to rebuild the three-block stretch of Aurora Avenue at the tunnel’s north end, improving east-west mobility in that neighborhood.

Contractor Kiewit Infrastructure West Co., began demolishing the Alaskan Way Viaduct on Feb. 15. Over the course of approximately six months, they will use large machinery to crunch, munch and cut the structure into pieces to be hauled away by truck. When the viaduct is gone, the City of Seattle will begin work on a new surface street and public open space along the waterfront.

The work of filling and sealing the Battery Street Tunnel began on on Feb. 12, 2019 and is scheduled to be complete in late 2020. The major elements of this work are:

• Decommissioning and removing the tunnel’s utility and mechanical systems.
• Removing hazardous materials from the tunnel.
• Filling the tunnel and sealing its entrances.
• Street restoration along Battery Street, including sidewalk improvements, new curb ramps, street lighting and other pedestrian improvements.

The tunnel will be filled in two phases, with material brought into the tunnel both from its south entrance and through grates along Battery Street above. Crews will partially fill the tunnel with viaduct removal rubble and then will pump in low-density cellular concrete from above to complete the fill.

Questions? Call the 24/7 program hotline at 1-888-AWV-LINE (298-5463) or send an email to viaduct@wsdot.wa.gov.