There Is No Problem That Can't Be Studied Indefinitely

We had a little trouble interpreting the results of the Viaduct public vote a while back. Clearly it was a vote against the tunnel. Was it a vote for a new Viaduct? Was it a vote for surface and transit? Was it a vote for "further political uncertainty?" None of the above, it turns out. It was actually a vote for "we're suffering from severe Viaduct fatigue and we don't want to talk about it anymore." A landslide, it seems. Once upon a time you could rally the whole office with any mention of the elevated roadway. Head over to the water cooler right now and say, "blah blah blah Viaduct." You'll clear the place out faster than if you asked for volunteers to train on the new TPS reporting system.

Peter Steinbrueck, however, appears not to be bound by the vote. He has a new Viaduct plan: study surface. $8 million dollars. Study to deliver answers at the end of the year.

There are plenty of skeptics around, but "how do you know until you've studied it?" Steinbrueck asked.

Indeed. The problem is no amount of studying, no amount of time or money or whatever other resource you can think to throw into this black hole of a problem will turn up evidence that says it's ok to tear down the Viaduct and replace it with nothing. No legitimate study will ever say that. It may be the case that we can tear down the Viaduct and not simultaneously tear the fabric of Seattle traffic. It's very possible that we can remove the concrete wall between downtown and the waterfront while still allowing goods and people to travel from West Seattle to the rest of the world quickly and efficiently. Seattlest even thinks that's the case. We think that Downtown would be a lot better off without the Viaduct, and that the traffic that currently uses it could easily find another way. It could take I-5, or First or Second or take light rail or the tram or fly or stay home three days a week or whatever. It'll work itself out. We're pretty confident of that. Seventy-five percent, easy. What are the stakes again? That final twenty-five percent isn't going to be convinced to jump off a Viaduct-less ledge by another study, though.

Image courtesy of Flickr user SlightlyNorth.