New Viaduct Costs Could Mean Another Study

Upon hearing that Alaskan Way viaduct tunnel or rebuild will cost billions more than originally thought, some on the city council are calling for...oh, you'll just never guess, so here's what the Times says:

"Some council members are unhappy with the choices they've been given and plan to introduce a resolution today asking the state to study other options, such as tearing down the viaduct and distributing its traffic through the city with transit and road improvements."

What should drive us absolutely fucking balls crazy is that we have been studying this for years, and all the while the price keeps rising and rising. There have also been numerous studies on the street level option; the council can probably just borrow one of those.

For some reason, however, we are not absolutely irate about another viaduct study. Maybe it's because this is what we have come to expect from our leaders, who seemingly can't make a major decision on their own. They are fully capable of deciding on parking garages, dance ordinances, and other such matters. It's just on the major civic projects that they can’t get cold feet and can't make a decision.

We just have this fear that someday soon that viaduct we be ruled unsafe, or worse come down on its own. Then we will have to sit through months of anger, finger-pointing, a "what went wrong" media series, and excuses.

We know that some day there will be a final decision made, and that one day, after the final lawsuit is thrown out of court, construction will actually begin. We know that, however, we can't actually see it happening.