Evergreen Point Floating Toll Road

There's no doubt that between the viaduct and the 520 bridge the sexier demolition project is the viaduct. It's ugly, dangerous, noisy, hateful, holds grudges, is jealous of our success and a whole lot of other bad stuff. We want it disassembled and buried deep inside the earth; replaced with something shinier and happier like a park or condos or a dozen new cruise ship terminals. The 520 we can live with. Who would try to wedge themselves through Montlake to get east and why are they even going over there in the first place? Seattlest might be personally biased on this one. Sure, the 520 bridge sucks, but there're other ways to get over to the eastside.

It looks like we might have to wait a while longer for the wished-for Portlandification of our waterfront, though. Gov. Gregoire made it clear yesterday that, from a safety standpoint, the 520 is the more pressing project.

From the PI telling:

[Gregoire] said she was surprised when they told her that from a safety standpoint, 520 was a higher priority than the viaduct.

"I don't think the average citizen knows or understands that," Gregoire said.

Asked if that meant then that the 520 bridge was a higher priority to fix, Gregoire responded that one thing she and legislators are united on is "safety first." She said 520 is one of 100 bridges around the state with safety problems that should get the priority for transportation spending.

But MacDonald quickly stepped in to try to erase any impression that 520 would take priority over the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

"We love both of our children equally," he said, adding that the goal is to raise enough money to do both projects.

Prepare yourself for the concurrent razing of Alaskan Way and scuttling of the 520. (Sneak peak at Seattlest's commuter education program: Start learning to paddle.) It looks like a new 520 is probably going to be a toll road. Make no mistake, you'll vote to increase your taxes very soon to fund various transportation initiatives, but that money has already been spoken for by other, more glamorous projects.