Guess that answers question #1 from my earlier thread.

Now for question #2: What about options 1 through 8? Why no link to them?

And question #3 again: If the WSDOT is up to at least an option 9, isn't that still eight more options than what surface + transit supporters have come up with?

Dan Savage: get a non-staffer to crap-check the surface option. Josh has too much foam in his mouth.

I think those are the eight options people are referring to--I've forgotten the pre-DEIS discussions by now and it's possible I'm forgetting something. WSDOT scaled the five back to two, both modified from the original five proposals--a stacked tunnel and the elevated. The tunnel proposal was scaled back by the mayor to "surface-tunnel hybrid," but rejected by the Governor despite the upcoming vote, and that's where we are now.

Out of the eight options, two are tunnel options, two are rebuild options, one is a bridge option, one is a repair option, and one is a surface option. If you count plan 9, that's three tunnel plans vs. one surface plan. Of course, WSDOT's surface plan is not really surface+transit (or "transit plus streets" as the PWC calls it), but rather a transparent attempt to defeat the idea by using the most pessimistic assumptions possible.

The tunnel options are all failures at this point, as are all proposals except for the current elevated. It's kind of hard to look at any of that and conclude that the tunnel has been better planned than surface. So we've got one elevated plan, and an open field to come up with a consensus for some kind of alternative. Given the state and feds aren't going to pay for anything but elevated, tunnel options are off the table. So we can get clever with the rebuild using state dollars, or find a way to make transit/streets or repair work. My contention is that transit/streets and repair are really the same proposal when you realize neither can happen without the other.

Given this region's history with Sound Transit and the monorail, though, I can understand why discussing that option sets heads to shaking like a bobblehead doll in an earthquake.

Chopp hasn't found anyone yet who can do better that the state highway department and its architect and engineering firm or another architect and engineering firm in Bellevue which also tried and struck out with Chopp a little later.

When will Chopp produce? He's had six years.

the Fremont Public Council is the crown jewel of your designer self

please remember horses as transportation as long as we are getting rid of cars

the sweet smell of all that straw and manure and not oil dependent

The tunnel lid park never was Frank's idea - what I recall him pushing was improved sound buffering and safety improvements - which, quite frankly, is why it's a bit wider at the widest point (note to self - Times distortion showing only widest cross-section and not width cross-sections which are much less at other points - must copy their ability to lie while telling truth).

Now, please return to the reality that the tunnel people killed Surface Plus Transit on purpose.