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Seattle Scenic Drive signs and system

Started by ErmineNotyours, February 03, 2019, 06:13:20 PM

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ErmineNotyours

Walking along the Alaska Way Viaduct, Jakeroot was interested in getting a picture of one of the last Scenic Drive signs left in the wild.

Scenic Drive sign, Alaska Way Viaduct by Arthur Allen, on Flickr

I had noticed them through the years myself, and started taking pictures of them with my digital camera, such as this long-gone sign in SoDo (which still had a fair color balance back then):

Seattle Scenic Drive sign by Arthur Allen, on Flickr

My last new discovery was this in West Seattle by Wildwood and Brace Point, though it's possible this one has been removed:

Seattle Scenic Drive photo, Wildwood & Brace Point, West Seattle by Arthur Allen, on Flickr

One day I saw this guide map in an antique store: the key to the whole system.

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This was the first time I knew that Aurora Avenue had reversible lanes, a system that was discontinued when I-5 was built.  Mercer Island Floating Bridge kept their system into the late 1980s  Also, on the introductory page, you see people observing the demolition of the Seattle Hotel, or they're observing the Smith Tower, from the Pergola.  It was the demolition of the Seattle Hotel, replaced by the "Sinking Ship" garage, that set off Seattle's historic building preservation movement.


Bruce

What a find! I'll have to see if they were covered all that much by The Times.

jakeroot

ACK! I don't know how I missed this. Thank you for sharing those scans. I always wondered where the routes ran! I'll have to take a drive down them one day and record it with my dashcam.

Bruce

Perhaps this could be the focus of a future roadmeet? It'd be fun to clinch the routes in one day, especially now that the new Alaskan Way connection to Marginal Way is open (and thus Route 3 is once again completely clinchable).

ErmineNotyours

Quote from: Bruce on February 11, 2019, 03:36:41 PM
Perhaps this could be the focus of a future roadmeet? It'd be fun to clinch the routes in one day, especially now that the new Alaskan Way connection to Marginal Way is open (and thus Route 3 is once again completely clinchable).

The loop through Seward Park has been closed to cars for a while.

jakeroot

We can just do that small loop around the ampitheatre and call it good.

There's also the whole thing with the viaduct being gone now. :-D

MNHighwayMan

Quote from: jakeroot on February 11, 2019, 05:46:15 PM
We can just do that small loop around the ampitheatre and call it good.

There's also the whole thing with the viaduct being gone now. :-D

It's not gone, it just requires some determination to use now! ;-) :)

Bruce

Quote from: MNHighwayMan on February 11, 2019, 08:07:15 PM
Quote from: jakeroot on February 11, 2019, 05:46:15 PM
We can just do that small loop around the ampitheatre and call it good.

There's also the whole thing with the viaduct being gone now. :-D

It's not gone, it just requires some determination to use now! ;-) :)

Well, there's an unlocked fence at a certain ramp on the north side that makes it pretty easy to access.


Bruce

A poorly-aged Scenic Drive sign at California & Donald near Seacrest Park.




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