Blogs Feb 25, 2014 at 6:00 am

The Viaduct Is Sinking

Eli Sanders
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Comments

2
god you people really need someone to run your city for you....
on February 25, 2014 at 7:00 AM Report this
3
@2: It's a state highway right through the heart of the economic engine that likely fuels whatever livelihood you have, which is why you get to help pay for its replacement. Suck it.
Aaron on February 25, 2014 at 7:07 AM Report this
4
3

now now.

admitting you are a retarded fuckup is the first step to fixing yourself.

don't make us roll up a newspaper and come spank your ass...
on February 25, 2014 at 7:11 AM Report this
5
Closed viaduct party? Closed viaduct party.
The Establishment on February 25, 2014 at 7:40 AM Report this
6
Just tear the stupid thing down already.
Catalina Vel-DuRay on February 25, 2014 at 7:42 AM Report this
7
pretty confident SDOT and WSDOT will make the viaduct limp to the finish line.

just keep your eyes fixed on the glorious future, when trucks filled with chinese crap will cruise unhindered north from the port all the way up 99 to the traffic lights in green lake! it's going to be worth it.
Max Solomon on February 25, 2014 at 7:42 AM Report this
8
So when we close the viaduct, and the sky doesn't fall, can we stop digging the tunnel, please?
nikoniko on February 25, 2014 at 7:42 AM Report this
9
High capacity canoes!
Greg Barnes on February 25, 2014 at 7:48 AM Report this
10
@9 canoes are so 19th century. I want to ride a zip line down from Hamilton Viewpoint in West Seattle to the waterfront, where the moving walkway will whisk me away Jetsons style to Madison Park, so that I can take a sky gondola to Kirkland, to connect to the pneumatic tube network to whoosh me off to Redmond. Think multi modal or get out.
Joe Szilagyi on February 25, 2014 at 7:58 AM Report this
11
Canoes are the last transportation mode that actually worked on this corridor. Forward to the past!
Greg Barnes on February 25, 2014 at 8:15 AM Report this
12
O'Biren said WSDOT might "move the goalposts", so got them to commit to answer very specific questions in a written report for the next briefing. He does want details why they do not consider the spots they measured 4/10-inch settling to be a sign of an impending crisis. That'll be a briefing to watch for.
TomJohnsonJr on February 25, 2014 at 8:17 AM Report this
13
Who could have seen this coming?
sperifera on February 25, 2014 at 8:18 AM Report this
14
@10 - If they'd actually fund transit, you could do that trip on one pneumatic tube and a zipline without all that senseless transferring in between.
MacCrocodile on February 25, 2014 at 8:20 AM Report this
15
@14 zip line Spider-Man style from West Seattle across the Duwamish, bay, downtown, east Seattle, Lake Washington, and all the way to say Bellevue? Forget commuting, I'd pay King County $50 for the fun of it.
Joe Szilagyi on February 25, 2014 at 8:24 AM Report this
16
@12 WSDOT has repeatedly moved the goal posts on this already.
Joe Szilagyi on February 25, 2014 at 8:25 AM Report this
17
Traffic is down on the viaduct already. Smart people don't want to be on it when it collapses.
monkey on February 25, 2014 at 8:43 AM Report this
18
@16 - The goalposts are moving on their own, very slowly.
MacCrocodile on February 25, 2014 at 8:46 AM Report this
19
I hope they close and start dismantling the viaduct early.
fletc3her on February 25, 2014 at 8:59 AM Report this
20
Google already tried Sky-Bicycles. If anyone can build a viable pneumatic-tube transportation network, it's Google.

P.s. it had fucking better make that comical 'foop!' sound when it sucks you in, like on Futurama.
Dr_Awesome on February 25, 2014 at 9:15 AM Report this
21
@18, they may inspire the art of the future:

http://cdn2-b.examiner.com/sites/default…

(From here.)
rob! on February 25, 2014 at 9:15 AM Report this
22
Gov Gregoire, 2008: "Watch me" tear down the viaduct in 2012
Baconcat on February 25, 2014 at 9:17 AM Report this
23
@18 http://media0.giphy.com/media/KsgLFgQp7E…
Joe Szilagyi on February 25, 2014 at 9:29 AM Report this
24
If they closed it and the world didn't end, then people might ask why we're trying (and failing) to dig a tunnel.
Cascadian on February 25, 2014 at 9:31 AM Report this
25
"It's coming down in 2012. I'm taking it down -- the middle. That's the timeline. I'm not going to fudge on it. And if we don't have some alternative by then, boy are we going to have a mess on our hands because it's coming down."
-Christine Gregoire, January 2008

Can we rebrand this thing already? Gregoire Gulch or Christine's Calamity, maybe. It seems like she's gone and been forgotten. McGinn was right: She cannot be trusted.
DOUG. on February 25, 2014 at 9:59 AM Report this
26
@18, exactly - no Nisqually earthquake, no 5 inches of sudden settling that day, no debate, no Cary Moon, no cut-and-cover, no legislative action, no McGinn wedge, no tunnel underway. Thanks earthquake!
TomJohnsonJr on February 25, 2014 at 10:00 AM Report this
27
Another reason we need to switch to the metric system. How many feet is a tenth of an inch?
Eastpike on February 25, 2014 at 10:02 AM Report this
28
@27
1/120th
I'm pro metric system, but that wasn't even hard.
JAT on February 25, 2014 at 10:08 AM Report this
29
@7, the products from China that enter our ports mostly leave here by non-stop rail straight to Chicago. The Port knows better than to use our roads (mostly because of how bass-ackwards Seattle roads are).

I find this amusing. The AWV was built above current specs (the engineers overbuilt it at the time basically), is safer than any tunnel in a liquefaction zone, and has withstood more seismic activity than intended just fine. But, since in order to replace it we have to scare people into believing it is a death trap, WSDoT has to physically undermine it to justify their pet project.
Stay classy, WSDoT.
on February 25, 2014 at 10:37 AM Report this
30
@6, @17, @19, @24 Even if it means 1.5--2 hour trip from West Seattle to Downtown????

We should assume the 4/10th isn't a big deal until they can tell us definitely.

This certainly makes the West Seattle to Ballard monorail look a whole lot more sensible and cheaper.
neo-realist on February 25, 2014 at 10:59 AM Report this
31
The south end was demolished a couple years ago.
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/viaduct…

Don't let gravity get you down.
MrBaker on February 25, 2014 at 11:21 AM Report this
32
@30 The tunnel was never going to improve the W. Seattle to downtown commute. It has no downtown exits.
Rocky Mountain Ben on February 25, 2014 at 11:24 AM Report this
33
Oh good lord. This is turning into a right comedy of errors.
treacle on February 25, 2014 at 11:35 AM Report this
34
Next headline: Viaduct sinks down and lands on Bertha. State denies this will lead to overruns.
Matt the Engineer on February 25, 2014 at 11:58 AM Report this
35
@9 mine is ready
Will in Seattle on February 25, 2014 at 12:02 PM Report this
36
@34 for Most Insightful Post Hole of the Dig
Will in Seattle on February 25, 2014 at 12:16 PM Report this
37
Next earthquake we have, that thing is coming down on its own.
very bad homo on February 25, 2014 at 12:25 PM Report this
38
four tenths sounds like a whole lot more than two fifths. Better call the fire department.
gawd on February 25, 2014 at 1:52 PM Report this
39
@38 I think they're using tenths because last week they reported it had sank one tenth.
Matt the Engineer on February 25, 2014 at 1:58 PM Report this

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