http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2008/11/20/viaduct_cost_estimates_release Comments On: Viaduct Cost Estimates Released by Erica C. Barnett en-us Copyright 2009 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:00:01 -0800 Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:00:00 -0800 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
http://www.boston.com/news/local/article…

Yes, commute times are shorter in the center of the city. But facilitating car traffic downtown has encouraged more people to drive, which causes back ups around the city.

Perhaps Seattle should pay attention to this example.
Posted by Rob Carlson]]> Wed, 26 Nov 2008 11:00:42 -0800 The Stranger Yeah, the Big Dig has had its problems. But what don't you like about the fact it reduced the avg trip thru Boston from almost 20 minutes to less than 3?

http://www.boston.com/news/traffic/bigdi…

We have to ask ourselves what the point of this project is. Is it about recovering our waterfront? Is it about getting traffic to move? If you answer "both", the tunnel options are the only options. The viaduct options may move traffic but continue to wall off the waterfront. The Chopp option is hideous! The boulevard does neither. Sure, you get rid of the wall of the viaduct. But how does a boulevard flooded with traffic recover the waterfront? And it obviously won't carry nearly the traffic the current viaduct does. You'll just be clogging I-5 even more than it is now. You'd probably even get a net increase in pollution due to those diesel trucks moving at half the speed on I-5.

With the tunnel options you can recover the waterfront and keep at least the same level of capacity (which is all I'm asking). It would even create a great platform for mass transit to travel through. For folks living on the west edge of the city like me (ie Ballard, Fremont, etc.) a boulevard option would be hell. We are completely being neglected in terms of light rail/mass transit (once the monorail went down) and now you want to take away our main N-S road? I imagine the folks that live in West Seattle, Burien, etc. feel much the same way.



Posted by NSBill]]> Sun, 23 Nov 2008 13:27:26 -0800 The Stranger
Every dollar we spend on this project, is a dollar that is not available for some other public good. How many community college and university enrollment slots could we create for $2 billion? How may children, or adults could we provide health care for? How many acres of priceless wilderness could be preserved? How many acres of new parks could we build in Seattle? Even on transportation, how far would $2 billion take us in rapid transit expansion? It would probably get you at least half way to a Ballard to West Seattle subway.

All this is to say that I have a strong preference for the cheaper options, because in the end, there are a lot of other things that I'd rather spend the money on than anything having to do with this viaduct.
Posted by Tony]]> Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:41:49 -0800 The Stranger Posted by elswinger]]> Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:37:14 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Chris]]> Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:33:04 -0800 The Stranger
Please no actual voting. If that happens, whatever option developers like most will win.
Posted by jrrrl]]> Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:21:16 -0800 The Stranger
GRIBBLES.
Posted by Greg]]> Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:00:39 -0800 The Stranger
And only Seattle citizens get to vote.

The rest of you can sod off.

P.S.: We already voted against a tunnel, so get rid of that choice.
Posted by Will in Seattle]]> Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:47:11 -0800 The Stranger
Bingo - and I bet they don't. Kind of like ordering your dinner ala carte - it looks cheap at first....


Posted by Mr. X]]> Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:22:15 -0800 The Stranger Posted by elswinger]]> Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:12:21 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Lionel Hutz]]> Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:56:42 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Joe]]> Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:49:29 -0800 The Stranger
The advisory vote was worthless, because all options failed in the same way.
Posted by StC]]> Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:41:17 -0800 The Stranger Posted by tiktok]]> Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:39:39 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Chas Redmond]]> Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:20:13 -0800 The Stranger
Also, no voting please.
Posted by AJ]]> Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:18:30 -0800 The Stranger Posted by maxsolomon]]> Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:11:47 -0800 The Stranger Posted by David Wright]]> Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:05:13 -0800 The Stranger