Alaskan Way Viaduct's waterfront barrier and Colman Dock edge

For decades the Alaskan Way Viaduct (State Route 99) formed an elevated physical barrier between downtown Seattle and Elliott Bay, separating the urban core from the waterfront until the viaduct's removal in 2019. The demolition and SR 99 tunnel project reopened the waterfront and changed the long-standing physical divide; Colman Dock (the Washington State Ferries terminal) sits at the waterfront edge that was once blocked from downtown by the viaduct. The sequence of construction and removal is a prominent example of a man-made border oddity along Seattle's shoreline.