Results tagged “alaskanwayviaduct”

We hate to be the bearers of Monday's bad tidings. That's more Garfield's territory. But this is a something you ought to see.

It matters a good deal what question the poll asked, of course, but if the Seattlepi.com knows, they ain't tellin'...ah, here we go: "Currently, there is a plan to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a tunnel. Do you support? Or oppose? That plan?"

The intern over on the Slog has put together the stats on our brutal week of murders. There have only been eleven murders in Seattle this year--which is the good news; the bad news is, a quarter of 'em happened this week.

The long-running conflict over how to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct, theoretically settled in January when local and state leaders agreed on a controversial tunnel option, has come up in the tendentious races for mayor and city council. According to the , tunnel supporters held a press conference yesterday attacking mayoral candidate and former Sierra Club leader Mike McGinn and council candidate Mike O'Brien for "misleading voters about the project's costs and benefits." McGinn has been particularly critical, frequently pointing to a $4.2 billion price tag, which includes related projects like street and seawall improvement and replacement. Tunnel supporters counter that the tunnel is only $1.2 to $1.9 billion.

Greg Nickels is feeling pretty good this morning. He probably served himself an extra couple of pancakes, and probably broke open that bottle of boysenberry syrup he’s been saving for a special occasion, to reward himself for getting the tunnel he has always wanted.

After years of debate, acrimony, and a vote or two thrown in, the is reporting that city, county, and state leaders have reached an agreement on the Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement: a deep-bore tunnel. For those unfamiliar with the concept, this is what you would actually call a "tunnel," whereas the mayor's original proposal was more like a big trench with a lid on top. The proposed plan is estimated to cost $2.8 billion in state money, with the above-ground improvement costs borne by the city. The news signals a reversal on the part of Gov. Gregoire, who previously supported the voters' decision to build neither a tunnel nor a new raised structure and instead concentrate on a streets and transit solution.

Originally ran on January 3, 2007, January 2, 2008--updated for January 2009.

From President-elect Obama's weekly address this morning:

Frank Chopp, Olympia's favorite stubborn uncle, decided many years ago that something should be done about the viaduct, and because he lives in Seattle he was able to wait seven years before actually announcing his plan.

With the Ballard Denny's landmark status is-it-or-isn't-it debacle still fresh on our mind, comes the latest chapter in Seattle's ever-exciting "What Constitutes an Historic Landmark?" debate. According to local historian Art Skolnik, the death-trap we formally call the Alaskan Way Viaduct should be declared and preserved as an historic landmark.

What was that WSDOT? You stopped the sinking of the viaduct with your latest repairs? That is what you reported yesterday, right? And, we kinda called your bullshit—only to feel completely validated this morning by this headline: "Viaduct Sinks a Little Bit More."

Then again, isn't that what they always say? The Washington State Department of Transportation claims that the most recent repairs have stopped the so-called settling of the viaduct. (They call it settling because it sounds much nicer and considerably less alarming than "sinking.")

The Alaskan Way Viaduct is sketchy. So much so that it was featured in Popular Mechanics' special report "The 10 Pieces of U.S. Infrastructure We Must Fix Now." The Viaduct graces the list, which also includes Atlanta's failing water system, New Orleans' canal locks, Chicago's notorious O'Hare Airport, and the country's oldest suspension-bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge.

Though the Alaskan Way Viaduct continues to sink—or, as the engineers like to call it, "settle"—a section of the Alaskan Way Viaduct has been declared safe. Preliminary results from the semi-annual inspection that closed the viaduct last weekend show that a section of the bridge between Columbia and Yesler St. has settled an additional 3/8th of an inch. The settling is visible in four columns that support the viaduct.

The Alaskan Way Viaduct is closed for its semi-annual inspection this weekend. The viaduct will be closed from 6am to 6pm on Saturday and Sunday. The Battery Street Tunnel will be closed all weekend to traffic. The semi-annual inspections check for that settling Dan was talking about earlier this week and the cracks we all pretend aren't there when we speed down the viaduct, fearing for our lives.

One of the oldest jokes in the book is at the expense of the Sixth Amendment: how can twelve people who couldn't get out of jury duty be counted as your peers? Juries, after all, are populated by the unemployed and retirees--people who don't have to actually for a living.

Glory be! Is this the year all our wishes come true? It wasn't but yesterday that we asked whether a decision would be made on the Viaduct this year.

Via Slog, here's the video of the Minneapolis 35W bridge collapse. Looks like it just went WHUMP. No warning.

It's hard to believe that you were born 54 years ago today, Alaskan Way Viaduct. You don't look a day over 50. Sure, your reinforced concrete could use some work. We all need a little health maintenance as we get older.

Gov. Christine Gregoire got so frustrated trying to broker a compromise between Mayor Greg Nickels and House Speaker Frank Chopp on the Alaskan Way Viaduct that she turned to a Republican wise man for advice.

Continue reading "The Tunnel Is On The Chopping Block"

The latest chapter in the drama (using the term loosely) around WSDOT's updates of the Alaskan Way Viaduct article on Wikipedia. Wiki administrator Crzrussion posted on the article's talk page this explanation from Amy Grotefendt at WSDOT :

No offense was intended in providing updates to the Wikipedia page, and we want to abide by the expectations and guidelines involving the Wikipedia community. The Wikipedia page was updated on October 27, 2006, to correct inaccuracies about the Draft Environmental Impact Statement on the Alaskan Way Viaduct and Seawall Project and project cost estimates. Below is the information we wanted to correct – we invite others to make these updates or we would like to make these changes, if no one objects.

Continue reading "Update: "We Didn't Intend to Spin!" Says WSDOT"

If the Wikipedia user WSDOT Alaskan Way Viaduct Project wants to spin any more entries they're going to have to identify themselves to the powers that be at the site. As noted in the comments of our post on Friday and at Wikipedia's discussion page for the Alaskan Way entry, WSDOT Alaskan Way Viaduct Project has been banned.

Have you read Wikipedia's article on the Alaskan Way Viaduct lately? Here are the two most recent versions of the opening paragraph. The first is from September 21, last revised by Bibliophylax:

The Viaduct is closing this weekend for a semi-annual inspection, which we like to imagine as Mayor Nickels walking up to and attempting to shake a support column. Thumbs-up, DOT, looks like we're set for another year or until such time as a replacement tunnel is funded!

Dear pansy-ass liberals at KUOW--stop the relativism. Just as there's a difference between Gitmo and My Lai, there's a difference between East and West Marginal Way.

Someday the Viaduct is going to collapse and kill a bunch of not-so-unsuspecting Seattleites and maybe a few guys from Everett. Only the elevated highway nymphs and the guy deep in the earth who pulls the earthquake levers knows when, exactly, that will be, but we have a pretty good idea that it will happen "someday." So we busy ourselves fixing it, or, failing that, arguing about how to fix it.

NEW is history, say the policy pundits at Cascadia Scorecard. Call us the Sightline Institute instead. (Someone's been busy in the art department turning wonky into wowzers! Ha ha! No, seriously, the site looks hot.)

Magnolia is getting a new bridge, if the city can get some money to pay for it.

At 2:30 p.m. today, March 13th, the Seattle City Council is holding a hearing with members of the Washington State Department of Transportation and the Seattle Department of Transportation concerning the controversial Alaskan Way Viaduct program.

Earlier in the week it looked as if Mayor Nickels' plan to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a tunnel had run out of time. Olympia lawmakers wanted him to present a funding package by April 1, an almost impossible task given the project's 3 to 4 billion dollar cost.