Click here to view the embedded video.

After standing for 80 years, it only took 8 days for the Sylvester Bridge to fall under the wrecking ball. In August, after considerable preparation by the project contractor SB Structures, demolition work was completed on the landmark bridge, making way for construction of its replacement. For the next few weeks, the contractors will be removing the rubble from the ravine, and doing the preparation work for construction for the new supports on both sides of the chasm.

While starting slowly, demolition work picked up pace in the middle of August, when a 5000 lb wrecking ball replaced the 3500 lb ball initially used. The series of photos shows a large section of bridge collapsing after repeated blows from the wrecking ball.

After the debris removal and site preparation, crews will begin to build the new abutments this September and early October, with bridge construction itself starting in mid-late October. Construction of the bridge is expected to be complete by the Holidays.

We’re not sure if there’s any video of this demo, but in the meantime here’s an attempt at an Animation made from the pics:

Here’s a photo taken Tuesday evening (Aug. 30) by an unknown, intrepid Photographer who risked life and limb to capture the progress of the replacement bridge – as you can see, it’s now pretty much just an empty chasm waiting to be built on:

King County also released the following, updated detour route:

For more information on the Sylvester Road Closure and Construction project, click here:

www.kingcounty.gov/SylvesterRoadBridge

The on-ramp is being demolished and replaced by one that will connect northbound Highway 99 to South Royal Brougham Way. WSDOT is hoping to finish work by April 1st, with a new ramp installed by the time baseball season begins.

The viaduct has served as an efficient means of transportation and an eyesore, as well as a source of some of the best city views in the northwest since it first opened on April 4, 1953. Carrying up to 110,000 vehicles per day, the structure was damaged in the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, and is proposed to be replaced by an underground tunnel.

Photographer Francis Zera was on the scene, and he shot the following Sound Slideshow – make sure your speakers are on so you can hear the melodious sounds of the powerful, viaduct-eating excavator:

Click to Play Francis Zera’s Sound Slideshow

Demolition equipment arrived Thursday morning (Sept. 23rd) at the new Burien/Normandy Park Fire Station site, which is the old Bonney-Watson Funeral Home and Chapel at 900 SW 146th Street in Burien.

As we’ve previously reported, the Bonney-Watson chapel and mortuary and the surrounding land, located at this site for decades, were purchased by the fire district last December.

Fire Chief Mike Marrs told The B-Town Blog on Sept. 14 that a 90-day contract for the work was signed with Bulldog Demolition earlier this month.

Utility shut-off work is already underway and will be completed by the contractor before the buildings start coming down, Marrs said. He expects building demolition to begin by Oct. 1.

The fire district will probably advertise for construction bids for the new station sometime this fall, perhaps by late November.

In November 2008, voters in Fire District No. 2 approved a $25 million bond issue for construction of new headquarters fire station in downtown Burien and replacement of the existing station in Normandy Park.

The bond issue included the costs of property acquisition and equipping the new stations.

Burien has long needed a new fire station to replace the outdated existing facility at the corner of SW 151st St. and 8th Ave. S.

Scott Schaefer dropped by Thursday morning and took these pics:

A worker surveys the flatbed of his truck after unloading a front loader.

Demolition equipment sits at the ready to take down the old Bonney-Watson Funeral Home and Chapel.

The front right side of the funeral home already shows evidence of demolition.

Broken-off bricks lie around the front porch of the old funeral home.

by Ralph Nichols

A demolition permit has been issued to the Burien/Normandy Park Fire Department (Fire District No. 2) to clear the property at 900 SW 146th St. for construction of a new headquarters fire station.

The Bonney-Watson chapel and mortuary and the surrounding land, located at this site for decades, were purchased by the fire district last December.

Fire Chief Mike Marrs told The B-Town Blog on Sept. 14 that a 90-day contract for the work was signed with Bulldog Demolition earlier this month.

Utility shut-off work is already underway and will be completed by the contractor before the buildings start coming down, Marrs said. He expects building demolition to begin by Oct. 1.

The fire district will probably advertise for construction bids for the new station sometime this fall, perhaps by late November.

Marrs added that construction should begin “after the first of the year, depending on weather, probably in February or March,” with the new fire station being completed by the end of 2011.

In the meantime, “design work is coming along very well,” he said. “The architects are done with the schematic drawings – the size and shape of rooms – and now are into the design phase.”

This phase includes more technical activities such as developing the exact layout and locating utility lines.

“We’re 75 percent through this process,” Marrs noted. “By the end of the month the architects will be ready to begin final detailed drawings.”

The new fire station will replace the Bonney-Watson chapel and mortuary at 900 SW 146th Street.

In November 2008, voters in Fire District No. 2 approved a $25 million bond issue for construction of new headquarters fire station in downtown Burien and replacement of the existing station in Normandy Park.

The bond issue included the costs of property acquisition and equipping the new stations.

Burien has long needed a new fire station to replace the outdated existing facility at the corner of SW 151st St. and 8th Ave. S.

The Normandy Park fire station at 135 S. Normandy Road will be built at that location. The existing station will remain in operation during construction.

Fire District 2 recently acquired an adjacent residential property through an eminent domain process to make room for the new station there.

“The survey work is done and next week we will begin the schematic design work for it,” Marrs said.

“Because this is a smaller station, it should be a faster process. We’re still shooting for completion of it around the end of 2011 also.”

A top priority for the headquarters fire station was a downtown location where response times will be no more than seven minutes anywhere in the fire district.

In addition, a location near major arterials that provide direct access to State Route 509 was desired.

The Bonney-Watson property met both requirements, and also provides room for “plenty of on-site parking for us, even when station public meeting rooms are in use,” Marrs said earlier.

Here are renderings of the proposed new fire station design:

by Ralph Nichols

As demolition crews prepared this week to tear down the Lora Lake Apartments – long the center of heated controversy over affordable housing in Burien – near Sea-Tac International Airport’s third runway, attention was focused on possible uses for this prime commercial location.

The Port of Seattle, which owns the Lora Lake complex, wants to develop facilities for airport-compatible activities there, such as air cargo, food service and warehouses, and on other property it owns within Burien’s Northeast Planning Area north of the airport.

But the vacant apartment complex is just inside the Burien city limits and several council members hope this location will anchor economic development in the Northeast Planning Area that will generate additional sales tax and other revenue for the city. Possible land uses include an auto mall and a business park.

City Manager Mike Martin said recently that results of a state Department of Transportation study for a new interchange at State Route 518 and Des Moines Memorial Drive now underway might be available by summer’s end. An interchange at that location would increase the value of the Lora Lake site for business development.

Now boarded up and surrounded by barbed wire and fencing, the 234 Lora Lake Apartments were once affordable housing.

Preparation for demolition includes mitigation of toxic contaminants in the ground at Lora Lake, which were discovered in a 2008 environmental study prior to a planned transfer of the property from the Port to the King County Housing Authority.

When the assay found hazardous chemicals in soil samples taken at depths of 7 and 14 feet, the apartment complex was determined to be unsafe for occupancy and the housing authority abandoned plans to reopen its 162 units. The site was used for commercial and industrial purposes from the 1920s to the mid-1980s. In the 1950s, it was an auto wrecking yard.

Despite the fact that Lora Lake is coming down soon, “Burien still has a major hurdle to overcome” before it can develop that location – and other sites in the Northwest Planning Area – for uses compatible with the city’s vision for economic growth, noted Councilman Gordon Shaw.

“Even after Lora Lake is done and gone, the Port of Seattle owns a large amount of the Northeast Planning Area,” Shaw said. “The Port has bought a lot of commercial and residential land under and near airport flight paths.”

That leaves Burien in the position of having to negotiate with the Port for purchase of Lora Lake and several other properties, or for other accommodations for development that conforms to the city’s comprehensive plan.

“I don’t think the Port will need all the land they’ve got, but why should they give it up?” he observed. “It’s going to be a very delicate thing for the city to work through … I don’t know what the path forward is on resolution, but I’ll be upset if all we get is a food service company and a freight handling company, and then they work with Des Moines on a 90-acre business park.”

A commercial aircraft prepares to land on the third runway, which is less than 1,000 feet away from the property.

Should Burien eventually develop an auto mall in the Lora Lake area, this would vacate the city’s existing auto row along First Avenue. Should that happen, said Deputy Mayor Rose Clark, possibilities for redevelopment of those properties might include a hotel or a convention center, or both, catering to air travelers.

Built in the late 1980s, the Lora Lake Apartments – once a 234-unit affordable housing complex – were bought by the Port of Seattle in 1998. The city, the Port and the King County Housing Authority, which managed the apartments, agreed they would remain open until 2005, at which time they would be removed. The apartments are less than 1,000 feet from the third runway.

When construction of the runway was delayed, all parties agreed the apartments would remain open until June 2007. In late March that year, representatives of the city, the Port and the housing authority discussed the scheduled June closure of the apartments. Although housing authority representatives indicated a desire to keep Lora Lake open, they recognized a “contractual obligation” and were ready to begin phasing them out.

But housing authority Executive Director Stephen Norman then sent a letter to federal and state as well as city officials, citing the need for affordable housing in King County and demanding that the apartments remain in use. Both the city and Port challenged the housing authority’s move to renege on the joint contract, and moved forward with plans to demolish Lora Lake. The housing authority countered with a suit to block demolition on the grounds that it had a legal claim to the property.

Before a hearing could be held in early 2008, the Port agreed to sell Lora Lake to the housing authority. But the sale was delayed pending the outcome of environmental testing at the housing complex.

So…what do YOU think of the future of this once-affordable housing complex? Please take our poll, or Comment below…

According to the King County website:

A new expanded transit center now under construction in Burien will provide bus riders with better connections, improved security, and faster travel times for buses.

“This project is a model of how we can make it possible for residents to live and work in walkable, transit-rich communities,” said King County Executive Ron Sims. “Metro Transit partnered with the city of Burien on the design of this transit center to make sure it was consistent with the city’s vision for its downtown core, and to make Burien better prepared to weather impacts when construction begins on the Alaskan Way viaduct.”

Construction of the new Burien Transit Center begins this week. It is located at 4th Avenue Southwest and Southwest 150th Street, the site of the current transit center and Burien Park-and-Ride.

When completed in 2009, the new transit center will have a passenger platform that can accommodate eight buses, and up to eight on-site layover spaces for buses. The buses will load and unload at the off-street bays rather than at the curb on 4th Avenue Southwest as they do now, and passengers will be able to transfer between routes without crossing a busy street. The new transit center will also have a loading platform for paratransit passengers, who will be able to transfer between paratransit vans and Metro’s regular routes at this facility.

The bus layover spaces will reduce the time required for buses to travel to and from the transit center, lowering costs, and improving service. It is expected to speed up bus travel times by five minutes or more per trip.

Other amenities at the transit center include new passenger shelters, benches, security cameras, and improved lighting. It is being built in partnership with the Federal Transit Administration and Burien.

During construction, up to 125 parking spaces in the existing park-and-ride lot will be closed. The reduction in spaces will be phased, and most will not close until early August. Alternate parking is available at the 87 spaces in the city’s nearby municipal lot, or use one of six other local park-and-ride lots.

So…goodbye sports bar, hello buses.

No word yet on whether they’ll have special Catalytic Converter Rip-Off Parking Area or not.