Why is this report just another case of "he said/she said" stenography? The Stranger has a long tradition of doing independent reporting on this very issue. Treating this as a battle between the Council and WSDOT avoids the core issues here, and cedes the truth to spin doctors on both sides. Or is that the new approach here at the Stranger?

And yet there have to be assessments - and a statement that more than a certain amount of sinking, especially with sheer forces, would be beyond safety toleranc- or at least when I build tunnels bridges roads & airports there are

Someone is fibbing.

Guess who?

@1

I know, right? Too bad the Stranger doesn't take some sort of position on the tunnel or something.

Wasn't Godden pro-tunnel? What jurisdiction does this city politician have over a state agency? I'd rather see her subpoena Richard Conlin and grill him for 16 hours.

@3 I'm more concerned that the new regime at the Stranger will just report on what "both sides" have to say rather than realizing that WSDOT has a long record of saying things that aren't quite accurate. Seattle desperately needs an independent journalistic voice that will call BS on government. That used to be the Stranger, especially on the tunnel. Will they still play that role?

@5

I see. Good question. I assumed that the issues with the tunnel were already well known enough not to get into that much detail, but you're right.

Paul -- you and Charles are about the only folks keeping slog alive right now. The decline has been dramatic and alarming over the past several months and the commentariat has been remarking on it, lamenting it, and asking what the fucking fuck. All of which has been met by radio silence. The fleeing of long-time active commenters cannot possibly have escaped your notice.

#8, it has been met with more than just radio silence. Look at the increase in no comment or registered only comment stories. Rather than listen to the dissent, the decision has been made to simply remove the dissent.

you can drive on it, but not with your kids. because children are the future.

the thing is held together with bailing wire and chewing gum. wsdot's not going to pull the plug and shut 99 down for ? years; they'll get it to limp across the finish line.

@7, I see. So that's why there's all that talk about Uber launching in Portland and being sued by the city. Or was that goldy's bailiwick ?

I admit to being initially kind of in favor of this project, but this is a joke. Kill the project before we dump any more money into it and take whatever funds are left over put towards a Belltown-Fremont-Ballard light rail line.

@12: it doesn't work like that. it's not the same pot of $.

there's no way in hell WSDOT et al are entombing bertha this early in the clusterfuck. everybody calm down.

To echo @8, I agree that SLOG has been neutered. All the good writers have obviously been forced out, and what has replaced them is mostly entertainment drivel. I often come here out of habit, scroll through a bunch of truly uninteresting crap and move on without clicking on anything. The weekends are the worst. Between Friday afternoon and Monday morning there is often no new content at all.
The Stranger is dying. And unlike The New Republic, this death actually matters.

@14



Unfortunately the Stranger has become the Seattle Weekly, everyone is phoning it in at this point.

I would at least give the new person a few weeks to get going, no?

Meh just drill a shit load of holes close together really deep and fill em with cement. Worked for the Romans, problem solved.

Wasn't a few weeks about how long that last person lasted?

!

there's no way in hell WSDOT et al are entombing bertha this early in the clusterfuck. everybody calm down.

WSDOT wouldn't kill the project if they could, but they can't; that's above their paygrade. The profit-takers that comprise STP could walk away, but they've still got a lot more profit to take.

The plug will be pulled when relevant politicians feel supporting a policy of continuing to throw money into this ridiculous pit will endanger their political career. If things continue to go poorly, my best guess is that moment will be sometime in 2016, when more delays have made this project increasingly politically toxic and Inslee is worried about re-election.

@18 - touché.

The SOIL isn't sinking. The things on/IN the soil are sinking. It's a world of difference.
@BerthaDeBlues