Video: Is the Viaduct as part of Seattle's history worth saving?

Larger screen

SEATTLE - Governor Christine Gregoire and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels both agree Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct must come down - and soon.

Now a local historian wants to save the Viaduct. Not for old time's sake, but because he says we still need it.

Art Skolnik wants the Viaduct declared an historic landmark, and preserved and used.

"The commuters who use it, the businesses who use it are an integral part of the success of our great city," he said.

The Viaduct has already been condemned by many as a two-mile wall of traffic and noise - a victim just waiting for an earthquake.

Jim Bates / The Seattle Times

Cars crowd the lanes of the Alaska Way Viaduct, Seattle.

But Skolnik shrugs off earthquake fears that trigger periodic Viaduct inspections.

"It survived a 7.3 earthquake and seven years later, we're still using it," he said.

Skolnick's approach to saving the Viaduct is passionate but totally unsentimental. There is no nostalgia, as some felt toward the funky old Denny's recently demolished in Ballard.

"Denny's was a singular site - a corner in a neighborhood," Skolnik said. "The Viaduct is everybody's neighborhood."