Just as City Council President Richard Conlin says that the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) won’t botch the deep-bore tunnel under downtown—and since they can’t botch it, Seattle doesn’t need to worry about what could possibly go wrong—we learn that, uh, sometimes the state does botch a project, and then won’t talk about it:

The chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Committee wants a “thorough investigation” into how a nearly $1 million design mistake on the state’s Nalley Valley viaduct project occurred and why her committee was not informed of it. […]

“WSDOT staff was asked directly (by committee staff) if there were any problems with the project and said there were none,” Haugen wrote in her e-mail. She called withholding the error a “serious breakdown” by the department.

“At best, it indicates that the culture of learning from mistakes at WSDOT is broken,” she wrote. “At worst, it raises the question of whether WSDOT’s culture allows for the hiding of mistakes and this only came to light because of its visible nature.”

9 replies on “Nothing Could Possibly Go Wrong!”

  1. Hey, what’s a few lost bore digging machines between friends and the resulting massive cost overruns due to our unpredictable but risky soils?

  2. Hm. Ignoring risks and assuming all outcomes will be positive. What does this remind me of??? What is it? What’s that sheen on the water? Is that a dead fish? Why is that bird black?

  3. Dominic, someone claiming to be the editor of North American Tunneling Journal (an exciting read, I’m sure) left a comment calling your article “the biggest piece of shite I have ever had the misfortune to read in my entire career as a civil engineering journalist.” She also claims that you misquoted your sources. Any response?

  4. I think his response is “why did it take you guys so many years to actually discuss things”.

    But maybe I’m just pretending I’m the “daily newspaper” of Seattle, like the Seattle Times, that couldn’t be bothered doing any local reporting, whereas Dominic is actually doing some, and the grand poobahs are just upset cause it went viral in the White House cabinet this week what a clustrfvck the Billionaires Tunnel is …

  6. @5 something you’re not aware of, Joe G. Unlike you, I post online in the WaPo and half the cabinet in the White House gets my twitterfeed, so they are VERY aware of it right now.

    Half the time people think I don’t know what I’m saying it’s because I’m referring to something you won’t hear about until later in the week or that you missed in an Icelandic newspaper.

  7. I would point out that when the current viaduct was built almost 50 years ago, it ended up costing more than double the original bid. And that doesn’t include the off ramps that were added later.

    These politicians that say that the project couldn’t possibly go over budget scare me. Seriously. WFT!!!

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