The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake destroyed the similarly designed Cypress Street Viaduct in Oakland, California, with the loss of 42 lives. The 2001 Nisqually earthquake damaged the viaduct and its supporting Alaskan Way Seawall and required the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to invest US$14.5 million in emergency repairs. Experts gave a 1-in-20 chance that the viaduct could be shut down by an earthquake within the following decade. After the Nisqually earthquake, the viaduct was closed twice a year for WSDOT to conduct inspections of the structure. Those inspections discovered continuing settlement damage. In 2005, a group of researchers and faculty from the University of Washington urged political officials to close the viaduct within a two-year timeframe.