Seattle waterfront work won’t be done until 2025

SEATTLE — The waterfront is Seattle’s place of perpetual construction.

It’s also a must-see for visitors.

“There’s a lot of construction, for sure, but you can still get around,” said John Wesche, visiting from Oregon.

After a five-month drivers’ strike, concrete is flowing again in the sprawling project to build a new boulevard and waterfront promenade.

City officials say the final work, scheduled to be done at the end of 2024, is now pushed back five months.

“We are delayed into 2025, and that’s because much of our critical path work relies on concrete deliveries that just were not made,” said Angela Brady, director of the city’s Waterfront Seattle program.

Bob Donegan, the president of Ivar’s, said the good news is that work will still be done by the summer of 2025.

He said 54% of waterfront visitors come between June and September.

“We’re not going to miss any June, July, August or September, so it’s not a big deal,” Donegan said.

City officials had long planned to open the waterfront one piece at a time.

A new staircase and elevator at Union Street will open later this year, and more traffic will shift to a new Alaskan Way, making room for park space.

Waterfront construction has now been going on since 2010.

“Only 12 years,” Donegan said.

Businesses endured the rebuilding of the Seattle seawall and the two-year breakdown of the machine digging the State Route 99 tunnel, which required a giant repair hole.

Then, the Alaskan Way Viaduct was torn down.

“Fortunately or unfortunately, the people along the waterfront have gotten really good at dealing with construction disruptions,” Donegan said.

One project that is not behind schedule is the Seattle Aquarium’s new Ocean Pavilion.

That work didn’t need concrete during the drivers’ strike, and it remains on track to open in 2024.

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