After World War II there was a large push for the country to focus on its infrastructure. Federal Aid Highway Act of 1944 gave money not only to fix rural roads but on urban as well. “Wartime activities had taxed urban road systems and many needed significant repairs and improvements.” (Ott 2011) In 1943, the Mayor of Seattle at the time asked each “Post-War Public Works and Capital Improvements Advisory Committee” (Ott 2011) to give them a list of the top projects to be done in the first five years of post war America. The street division of the Cities engineering department were happy to oblige with a list of 31 different projects ranging in scale. A lot of these projects had been neglected since the great depression. Minor things like street repair all the way up to bridge construction made the list. This is the first time the Viaduct along Alaskan Way on top of the existing seawall is first introduced, although its ranked very low on the priority list –29^th to be exact.

By 1945 the viaduct had moved to the top of the list. It was designed to be a bypass route to avoid the traffic of downtown--that sounds familiar, which had gotten worse after the wartime restrictions were lifted and the influx from the east thanks to the new 520 bridge. The act mentioned earlier also may have played a part, as it offered new sources to draw from.

With the increased volume of travelers into the city and apparently not a lot of them stopping in the city itself on their commute the need for a bypass became a focus. It wouldn’t be until 1946-1947 that they would get the funds together to build it, drawing from city and federal funds to make it happen. By 1950 they had started the construction. The first phase was done by 1953 and the next two finished in 1959 and third was into the 60’s. It was a celebrated accomplishment for the city, and when the population boomed so did the use of the viaduct. At this point you may wonder to the importance of this structure on this block. It is made aware when you see the path the bypass takes. It cuts directly through this block and through the blocks of its neighbors. This block has once again been disfigured by man made infrastructure.

The viaduct can be seen as an ironic symbol for Seattle when considering its history. As seen in the Denny Hill Regrade section, the city spent a lot of money, time and effort opening the waterfront to the commerce of the city. By building this giant concrete bypass they had once again cut the waterfront off from the rest of the city. This was a major turning point for the waterfronts economic lively hood. With the access to the waterfront all but strangled, the trade port shifted away. By the 1960’s the makeup of the waterfront had started to shift from trade to tourism.

The worlds fair in 1962 and I-5 construction --both causing a lot of neighborhood "relocation"-- through 1967 brought a different kind of life to the city and its waterfront. “mix of public and private development, with services and spaces for local residents and for tourists.” (Ott 2013) The businesses of old had switched in this block. Gone were the warehouses of trade and in their place were businesses to help the piers support tourism. The post 1930 banner of this website shows the moderate block and its businesses facilitating the pier. This block continued it’s support of Pier 66 that would be later melded together with two other piers in the 90’s to form the Bell Street Pier, which is now home to as mentioned in the introduction to a large cruise liner port and a small marina. In 2003 the Marriott was introduced to the block and only cemented it further as a servant to the needs of the Seattle tourist economy.