Here's the Bad Tunnel News the State Quietly Released on Friday

This is what your view would be if you got stuck at the bottom of Berthas rescue pit.

The view from the bottom of the rescue pit. (Or, what the damaged head of Bertha will see if it’s ever successfully lifted into the light.) Washington State Department of Transportation

At 3:15 p.m. last Friday afternoon—just around the time when people stop doing real work and start googling three-day-weekend plans—the Washington Department of Transportation released a hefty update on Bertha’s rescue plan that mentioned more viaduct settlement. It was a classic Friday news dump, and it made us wonder:

Are these Friday settlement updates going to become a regular thing?

We hope not, but then again, WSDOT has released some of its most memorable updates on Fridays. Take, for example, finding the steel pipe (reported on Friday, January 3, 2014). Or take the announcement of an inch of ground settlement around the Pioneer Square rescue pit (on Friday, December 5). And hey, if WSDOT is committed to burying bad news on Fridays, we can stay committed to making noise about it on the following Mondays.

This most recent Friday update came at the very bottom of the post titled “Safety at the Forefront,” below a section dedicated to a time-lapse video of the construction of a red gantry crane. The crane’s awesomeness noted, WSDOT then went on to note that it had observed “minor viaduct settlement.” Over the span of 500 feet south of Main Street, the viaduct has sunk up to a quarter of an inch in the last month.

“The viaduct remains vulnerable to earthquakes, but it is still safe for everyday use,” the post read. “If we had any reason to believe the structure was unsafe, we would not hesitate to close it.”

I followed up to ask about the maximum amount of settlement allowed on that section of the viaduct, but WSDOT spokesperson Laura Newborn said that the “contract has many points of measurement, with different amounts allowed on different parts of the viaduct.” Overall, the contract specifies maximum viaduct bent settlements of half an inch to two inches at different bents. (Bents are viaduct support structures along the length of the route.)

WSDOT added that the viaduct has been sinking for quite some time, and they expect it to continue to sink until it’s taken apart. In the meantime, Seattle Tunnel Partners will try to restart Bertha sometime this week so the machine can try to carve through 20 feet of concrete.

You can check out the viaduct’s whole history of settling in WSDOT’s survey log, here. And if the past is any guide, you can look for more viaduct news on some Friday afternoon in the near future!