Dominic, while you are at it, you should ask them if they have ever been caught beating their wives, or masturbating in a closet. The only proper answer to that question is "I don't understand the question". But it is a conspiracy proven if they continue to refuse to reveal the conspiracy.

@1) Nice try, but there's no question that the tunnel is running behind schedule. The issue is how far behind schedule, and that's a question they should answer in good faith.

It will be 8-10 months behind, if history is any indication.

"we don't know with accuracy yet. we're trying to determine that information, and will release that information as soon as we are confident in the answer".

or, you could take the day it broke and count how long ago that was. let's say it was 60 days ago. then they're 60 days behind.

how far behind they will be when they start back up? how would they know at this point when they don't even know which method they'll use to fix it yet?

Dom, you're definitely being a dick, but that's your job. Besides, it seems you already know more than whatever they're going to tell you at a PC. Keep hammering. I'd like to know more about the likelihood of the contractor defaulting and the fall back scenario if it does just get stuck in the dirt.

I'm no fan of access journalism, but I do think there is a line that can be walked between being fawning and a total and complete dick.

Could we call the tunnel boring machine by its real name--Christine?

I'd say we're a year back at this point. If everything goes swimmingly we're looking at a summer restart. Maybe they can pick up some time by letting some parts of the project move forward, but probably not much given that they can't really start rerouting roads and things until the tunnel is ready.

Dom's update after the jump says the state has asked for a time to call him to "discuss" his questions.

Imagine if we had taken all this money, and build out low cost LINK elevated lines to all reaches of King County and Puget Sound.

Where's the accountability?!?! Yes, I know the end-game of politics is to skirt it and pin it on others. But, we need more dicks or they will just continue to roll over the complacent and ignorant.

476-page technical document [posted here],

That page doesn't exist.

@13) Whoops. The link should be fixed now.

Keep at 'em!

are you seriously that dense? why won't they tell you?

because the answer is BAD NEWS.

So reading this doc, I focus in on

TC-04: Bored Tunnel

(This document seems like it is from the days when they were still considering all the options.)

The left is a Gantt chart. I don't see the legend, but I guess that blue is completed. Green is to be done, as is red, but red is critical path (these are the tasks that must be done for completion to occur).

I then jump to page 16. BT (Build Tunnel?) and these two items:

BT - Set up TBM $10,296,479.13 15 2 01-Jan-13 A 19-Jul-13

BT - TBM Mining $82,759,052.34 330 -20 22-Jul-13 24-Oct-14

So that's setting up Bertha and then digging the tunnel.

The seem to have allotted themselves until Oct-14.

@1,3,5,6- why do you hate journalism?

Dominic - you continue to do a great job at investigative journalism, which at this time is practically a lost art.

Bertha reminds me of Jumbo, an expensive relic of the Trinity atom bomb test:

"General Groves had ordered the construction of a 214-short-ton (194 t) steel canister code-named "Jumbo" to recover valuable plutonium if the 5 short tons (4.5 t) of conventional explosives failed to compress it into a chain reaction. The container was constructed at great expense in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and brought to the test site by rail, but by the time it arrived, the confidence of the scientists was high enough that they decided not to use it. Instead, it was hoisted up in a steel tower 800 yards (730 m) from the gadget as[vague] a rough measure of how powerful the explosion would be. In the end Jumbo survived, although its tower did not."

In fact, the government went to great lengths to hide how much money had been wasted on Jumbo, going so far as to attempt to vaporize it in the Trinity test. Jumbo survives to this day, rusting beside the Trinity monument.

What I have focused on is that the City of Seattle owns Bertha after 1000 feet of digging. Now they have run it to 1090 feet and burnt out all the main seal. Tell me they didn't just drive it till it was Seattle's no matter what happened.

You can argue that Dom is being a dick, but somebody needs to be asking these questions. We were sold this project on the promise that the state knew what it was getting into, and that nothing could go wrong and it couldn't go over budget, a la Boston's Big Dig. We were super duper promised because if it did, Seattle taxpayers would be on the hook for any cost overruns.

Well... now we are months behind, and we are undoubtedly incurring some unknown/undisclosed cost overruns. The state has an obligation to inform the taxpayers how far behind and how far over-budget this project is, or is expected to be. They may not know exactly when Bertha will be fully operational again or how much the repairs will cost, but presumably some engineers or consultants with the manufacturer must have some sort of estimate, even if it is just an educated guess at this point. If they have absolutely no fucking clue, then they should be telling us that.

WSDOT does not necessarily need to be at Dom's beck and call, but they cannot simply go mute because they don't like his questions. They are answerable to the taxpayers paying for this project, and they need to be more forthcoming.

I figure someone ought to sue the state to prevent the project restarting until we the people are given a revised budget and statement of where the money's coming from. Oh where are you Mike McGinn ...

@21 the City of Seattle will never 'own' any of the tunneling equipment at any point. there is a company named "Seattle Tunneling Partners" (or STP) which does now own the tunneling machine. the City of Seattle is not a financial partner in STP.

This project isn't behind, it's over with. They will not be able to fix this thing because of a, b, c, d, and on up to z.

@21, There's still 210 ft of warranty. Although with documented high temp alarms going off a shady car dealer would find wiggle room.

http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2…
The $80 million drill, stalled near Pioneer Square, remains under warranty from Hitachi-Zosen until it reaches 1,300 feet.

Re: Dominic being a dick

He wouldn't have to be if wsdot did their fucking jobs and weren't *lying* to the public about the tunnel problems.... Seriously, I believe an appropriate question at this point is, who lied and said the machine was fine, and what is the appropriate legal penalty be for lying to the public? It's not like this is a private project for a private landowner. This is public money and false information could sway elections. This carries huge moral hazard and judging from my time working for the state I'm sure there are ample beurocratic regulations that address this...

Why do agencies always want to go to phone calls instead of answering in writing?

@28

You just answered your own question.

Asking for honest answers about what went wrong, what stopped Bertha, etc., is legit. Hounding them to answer a question for which there is obviously no good answer IS being a dick.

Hounding them to answer a question for which there is obviously no good answer is NOT being a dick, it's being a reporter. They should produce an answer, good or not, because they're the ones in charge, and they're using PUBLIC MONEY.

Good job. Keep up the pressure.

Who cares if you're being a dick. It's a legitimate question for a journalist to ask and it's a question that WSDOT should be prepared to answer. Trying to shift the conversation to your style or behavior is a diversion and a distraction.

But, just for the record, I don't think you're being a dick. You're not saying, writing, or doing anything spiteful or personal. You're doing your job and expecting them to do their job. Personality or style isn't an issue here. Anyone who thinks you're being a dick must never have seen real dickish behavior.

Just because they're illegally lying and covering up the inevitable massive cost overruns that will cause all Eastern Washington roads projects to be cancelled ... doesn't mean they don't have their donors best interests at heart.

Here's mud in yer eye, Bertha!

As far as extracting information from the state, couldn't Slog find some big round untested boring machine and turn it on?

Suggestion: Ask some questions of other cities/states that have used a Hitachi TBM... and how well the company handled machine failures.

@36 Or do a records request to Sound Transit to find out if sand was ever found in the main bearings of the machines they used, and how common high temp issues were during their tunnelling operations. That would provide at least some context for the reaction to the initial stoppage.

There are two questions that need asking here, and Dom is asking only one of them. 1. What is the situation? WSDOT needs to answer that, and Dom should keep on being adick until they do. 2. What can be done to alter the situation? Dom's not asking that one, but should.

This is the time to begin examing the merits of the decision to enter a design-build contract. It's looking more and more like a good decision in retrospect. The D-B approach is intended, in part, to handle situations like this. To wit, the onus is on the contractor and the equipment supplier to deliver the tools to do the job, and execute the job. If they don't, they are not meeting the terms of the deal. The onus is on the owner to define the job specifically enough for the contractor to do it.

Next, these contracts always include claims & dispute resolution processes, with specific procedures for documenting disputes for reconciliation at the end of the job. Among the purposes of this approach is to make sure work continues even if there are disagreements about fault between the owner and contractor.

Finally, insurance will play a major role here. It's also important to know what insurance provisions might apply; a D-B contractor, in fact any contractor, doesn't get awarded the job unless they are well covered with insurance.

So the schedule is totally shot, yes. But the questions of cost overruns and who pays will largely be informed by how the dispute resolution goes, how fault is allocated, and to what extent coverage kicks in. Dom-- time to start asking these questions.

It's already been pointed out that until the machine reaches a certain point (which it may never do), the contractor must pay for overruns, etc.

I believe the talk of warrantying the machine is a bit of a red herring. The manufacturer may technically be on the hook for the machine but the state is undoubtedly incurring costs related to the work stoppage that Hitachi-Zosen will not cover.

It's like having your car break down on the way to your wedding. Ford will happily replace the water pump that broke, but the $20,000 of venue, catering and photography fees you didn't get the benefit of are your own problem.