Comments

1
The death knell of the Billionaires Tunnel was merely offset.

That day still will dawn, for popular support by the Citizens of Seattle is not there for this monstrous boondoggle, or the backroom cabals that created it.

The pressure will build. And now we KNOW that even their own internal documents show that the Billionaires Tunnel is fraught with danger, has a massive carbon footprint that puts the lie to all the talk of a Carbon Neutral Seattle, and does nothing to help with traffic or commuting to work in Seattle.

Not to mention the disastrous REDUCTION in freight capacity.
2
@1

I dont believe any of that BS about safety issues with the tunnel. We have a similar bus tunnel that has not experienced any problems in the 20 years it has existed. We also have tunnels going through north Beacon hill, no problems there. Were also digging more tunnels from the convention center to and through Capitol Hill onto Mountlake.

The only option that allows I-99 to connect to 1st ave is to tear down the viaduct and re-build an exact replica, at a cost of a billion dollars less, which the state will no doubt require the city to pay for cost overruns. Make no mistake, you will need to provide financial compensation to waterfront businesses with reduces taxes, rent or whatever to offset to costs of losing virtually ALL of the parking spaces that rest directly under the viaduct.
3
This is a nice picture (plus Bruce Harrell) of councilmembers who will lose their jobs in 2011 if any half-decent progressive runs against them.

Sally Bagshaw and Richard Conlin: You're lucky your terms don't end until 2013 (and that you had no real competition last year).
4
Unanimity's not especially important in a democracy, y'know.
5
@2 read the PDFs from the draft WSDOT and SDOT comments.

Face it, they know we don't want it and that it's too expensive. And way too risky.
6
@5 "Face it, they know we don't want it and that it's too expensive. And way too risky."

As far as I know, some poll suggested people might fear safety issues with the tunnel without any evidense to back it up. While I did not elect to read the dozens upon dozens of WSDOT PDF docs, I am not aware of WSDOT claiming major safety issues with building the tunnel. Hazards are going to happen no matter what job you have in life. Identifying the hazards in building the tunnel is good because you avoid them by knowing what they a

The city spent 10 years trying to decide on a plan to replace the viaduct and in the end, could not decide on a plan, so the state made it for us. But wait, new plan is here, which that new plan is to kill the current plan! Brilliant idea!

So we'll put this up for a vote, kill the DBT plan, then spend years deciding on what the new plan is and hope the viaduct doesn't crash while we decide. A few alternative plans don't have Environmental Impacts, so even if it was an easy decision to go with an existing alternate plan, it may require 2 year delay for that study before we even break ground.

Even STILL, we may not be able to repair the sea-wall and re-build the viaduct at the same time! Laying down earthquake proof I to secure the foundation, into soft soil, which is basically the sea-wall, may not be doable at the time same. This would further delay the project.


Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.