Waterfront Seattle capitalizes on the removal of the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the rebuilding of the Elliott Bay Seawall to enhance Seattle’s shoreline with new public green spaces that invite all communities and cultures to enjoy a beautiful, welcoming Waterfront Park.

In 20 new linear acres of public green space along Seattle’s downtown shoreline, Waterfront Park will be a commons for a range of cultural, recreational, and educational activities. With gardens that biofiltrate stormwater, working in conjunction with the new salmon-friendly Elliott Bay Seawall, the project promotes a sustainable, bio-diverse nearshore habitat. Reachable by bike, bus, foot, ferry, water taxi, light rail, and automobile, Seattle’s future waterfront will be one of the most accessible places in the city — physically and psychically reconnecting people to the scenic working waterfront, surrounding natural beauty, and to each other. Waterfront Seattle is a public benefit partnership between Friends of Waterfront Seattle and the City of Seattle.

Project Details

Infrastructure Type Waterfront / Waterway
Status In Construction
Opening 2022
Size 20 acres
Design Team James Corner Field Operations, Miller Hull (Pike Place MarketFront expansion), LMN & Mithun (Seattle Aquarium expansion), Mithun
Management

Managed by Friends of Waterfront Seattle in partnership with the City of Seattle

Project Leader Joy Shigaki

Latest News / Waterfront Park

GeekWire / April 14, 2022

How Seattle’s new waterfront could boost a battered downtown and impact tech companies

You might say the Seattle waterfront project has faced a few setbacks.

There was the multi-year fight about how to solve the problem of the crumbling Alaskan Way viaduct. The round-and-round debates about tunnels versus surface streets versus elevated highways. There was the time tunnel-boring machine “Bertha” gave up the ghost and sat stone-still beneath the city for two years. And the time Pier 58 fell into Puget Sound.