AlaZkan Way Viaduct

I wrote this on a King5 blog, but sort of got to like it, so I'll post it here as well:

-------------------------
The Alaskan Way Viaduct is overdue for a collapse. Tragic, yes, but it will happen. Act of nature or just lack of maintenance. Wait and see (SOP in the City of Seattle).

Let’s instead take it down, planned and organized, open up the BEST ASSET this city has - its water front - and put the traffic underground!

The voters turned that down - at the price tag provided. I doubt there are many that would say "no" to a tunnel if it was priced reasonably.

About a year ago, a new waterfront tunnel opened up in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is just about the same length as a tunnel in Seattle, same capacity, and same purpose; Get through-traffic away from downtown and the waterfront!

The difference however is that that tunnel was built for less than 10% of what WSDOT and other "experts" have indicated a tunnel would cost in Seattle (~$500M versus ~$5,000M).

There is something very wrong here. Sweden is a high cost country. Public building projects are pricey and take long time. BUT, they are of good quality, they do last. What reasons/factors here in Seattle would justify that a similar project would be 10 TIMES more expensive?

WSDOT, City of Seattle; You CAN do this - “on the cheap”, w/o sacrificing anything in along the way! Just make sure you hire the right people, the right contractors, people with experience and make sure that there is not a lot of "padding" of pockets along the way.

This city deserves an open waterfront, its people deserves a safe transit and transportation system.

With the money saved, we can put trains on the Eastside and ease up the always jam-packed I-405. Maybe there would even be money left for SR-520?

But no, now were are going to spend billions in sending light rail across the lake, on a bridge that was not designed for it, and even if the transit package is approved in November, we will not see the benefits until maybe sometime around the year 2020, or later. At least 15 years out!

Take another look at the transit package. Make sure we have money for maintenance (=avoid a Minneapolis disaster), and spend the rest wisely, instead of just building more, and more, and more, and more....
-------------------------