- Heidi Groover
- At this very moment, Seattle City Council member Mike O’Brien and others are asking the Washington State Department of Transportation about our many, many tunnel problems.
Holy shit has it been a bad couple weeks for the downtown tunnel project.
Last week, after the Seattle Times published a story about the Alaskan Way Viaduct sinking before some city council members had been informed about said sinking, the council called off a pre-planned presentation from the Washington State Department of Transportation and instead grilled WSDOT about what was going on. WSDOT officials acknowledged the sinking around the viaduct but promised the roadway was still totally safe. Then came the cracks. Residents and business owners near Pioneer Square said they worried the sinking may be worsening cracks in streets and buildings. WSDOT checked out a big crack on King Street but couldn’t tell us whether it was actually getting worse.
Now WSDOT officials are in the council chambers to give an update on the settlement and, we hope, an update on what the plan is if the viaduct needs to be shut down.
Watch for yourself here or check our Twitter feed for updates. In the meantime, check out this guest editorial from Cary Moon, who says it’s time to pull the plug on this whole project.
