AARoads Forum

http://www.citylab.com/design/2014/07/a-doomed-seattle-freeway-ramp-gets-a-loving-goodbye/374652/

"It's good that Seattleites got in their quality time with the ramp, because sometime between this year and 2016 it's got a date with the wrecking ball. The city is scheduling $15 million to remove old, useless ramps as part of its larger renovation of 520. In this specific one's place will grow a new extension of the Washington Park Arboretum.

But a group of architects and designers calling themselves Re-Collective are not letting the structure disappear without a fitting tribute. Toward that end they've coated it with curved acrylic, like a fattening carnival mirror, that warps the surrounding water, lily pads, and floating garbage. They call it the "Gate to Nowhere," and through the fall it will stand in companionship with the ramp on its deathwatch."

Article includes photos.

Ah, the ghost ramps. It would be a fitting end for them to collapse in an earthquake, but it seems as if it might not happen.

Here's the last picture I took of (one of) the ghost ramps, from late May:

(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3820/14316616905_67009ace4e_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/nP7pqv)
WA-520 eastbound from 24th Avenue E (https://flic.kr/p/nP7pqv) by SounderBruce (https://www.flickr.com/people//), on Flickr

That's actually quite badass, IMO:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn.theatlantic.com%2Fnewsroom%2Fimg%2Fposts%2F2014%2F07%2Fs2%2F9430fd22b.jpg&hash=b793253975b7d3cf278e223715feb7a7e3358f52)

No way it would happen, but that'd be a cool way to address this situation:

Quote from: MeCurving off toward I-440 eastbound. Much of this area is wetlands, so most of the added portions of this interchange are on bridges, as are the westernmost several miles of I-440 and its first two service interchanges. This shot is pretty dramatic, or so I think.

Apparently the bridge piers were initially painted a weird orangey-brown color, like something Tennessee would do. Decades later, the paint has faded or washed away very unevenly, so the piers look blotchy, as though the color is actually from rusty water seeping off of the weathering steel. It looks really bad. :(

I'd bet the acrylic would be even less durable than the paint was, though.

Quote from: Tom958 on July 19, 2014, 12:49:34 PM
I'd bet the acrylic would be even less durable than the paint was, though.

It won't matter much. All of the ghost ramps are being torn down for the new bridge project sometime before 2020.

It was such a fun place to canooze.  :( 

Quote from: KEK Inc. on July 20, 2014, 03:20:53 PM
It was such a fun place to canooze.  :( 

For the few hot summer days you actually get in Seattle, those bridges were fun to jump off into the lake! It is a lot higher than you think when you are jumping in .....

Quote from: I94RoadRunner on August 21, 2014, 08:45:54 PM

Quote from: KEK Inc. on July 20, 2014, 03:20:53 PM
It was such a fun place to canooze.  :( 

For the few hot summer days you actually get in Seattle, those bridges were fun to jump off into the lake! It is a lot higher than you think when you are jumping in .....

I'd be careful, particularly in August when the water level is low.  We had to walk our canoe through Foster Island since the arboretum slough was too shallow with tree debris.

I remember those ramps! In fact, they were some of the first features I ever saw when I explored my then-new hometown in 2000.