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Federal Way man’s father helped build the viaduct

One Federal Way man has fond memories of his father's stories about constructing the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

FEDERAL WAY, Wash. — To many, saying good bye to the Alaskan Way Viaduct means saying goodbye to the old way of getting around. To Dan Miller, it means saying goodbye to a family legacy. 

His father, Gus Miller, worked on the viaduct from the early to mid-1950's, setting the cement that would one day support 90,000 commuting vehicles a day. 

"He was so proud of it and us kids, we'd go on the viaduct and he'd tell us different things about when he was building it," said Dan. 

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Gus came to Washington from Philadelphia while he was serving in World War II and got into construction afterwards. 

Dan said he has fond memories from his childhood in West Seattle, hearing stories that his father would share with him and his siblings. Many of them involved the amount of hard work that each laborer put in. 

"Today, to build something like that would be so much easier," Dan said. "Back then, they used a lot of heavy timbers and an incredible amount of labor."

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Dan has one picture of his father working on the viaduct, and he cherishes it. He says he got into carpentry, because he was inspired by his father's work ethic. Dan says the lessons Gus passed down from his work on the viaduct taught his children about the importance of an honest day's work.

Dan is sad to see the viaduct go and hopes the legacy of those who builds it remains. 

"It'll be gone, but we'll never forget it," he said.

Join KING 5's Seattle Tunnel Traffic Facebook group to stay up-to-date on the latest Seattle tunnel and viaduct news and get tips to battle traffic during the three-week viaduct closure in January.  

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