I'm FROM Seattle, and let me assure you, it's a great place to be from.
As it turns out, we're not the only one's in the state governed by egomaniacal prima donna's who are convinced they know better then we do... and they're willing to waste billions in Seattle to prove it.
SR520 includes the UW-Bellevue floating bridge. It essentially goes from the UW campus to the MS campus across the big water.
Apparently, when it comes to bridges, idiots abound. And here's a few reasons why the fine folks in the region are not particularly happy with the choices made for them (That is to say, the choices rammed down their throats) by Seattle's version of the downtown mafia and the nattering nabobs of common senselessness... who are absolutely CONVINCED that they HAVE to do SOMETHING.... you know, kinda like they do around here?
Apparently, they don't. Not really. But wasting billions is what the left and their union thugs are all about.... right?
It's not the particulars of the issue that matter. It's the same kind of mindset... the same level of arrogance... the same massive waste that will result in a project that will not make any difference to anyone... except those it enriches while the commuters get hosed.Our governor knows we’re all weary of debates over SR 520. She and the State Department of Transportation are eager to put us out of our misery. Just build it.
In fact, the state is hurtling toward a “record of decision,” perhaps as early as this spring, on the 520 design it calls its “preferred alternative.” With a record of decision on that design, there’ll be no turning back for a better one.
The governor can hardly wait for Seattle to add a victory for the state’s “preferred alternative” to her resume.
And why not? Allow me to summarize the top ten reasons Seattle might prefer to demur.
Top ten reasons
10. What we’ll get isn’t what was promised. The new six lanes across Lake Washington will likely dead-end for the foreseeable future into the same old four lanes before reaching the Seattle side. Problems with the earthquake-vulnerable columns that support the Seattle side will go unaddressed.
9. What we’ll pay won’t be enough to build in Seattle. The tolls beginning this spring would be enough to fix 520’s safety problems: the pontoons under the floating bridge and the Seattle-side columns. But funding from tolls, taxes and all other sources so far identified is $2 billion short of what the state needs for what it “prefers” to build
instead.8. The state’s “preferred alternative” can’t be built without raising taxes and tolls still higher and driving the state still deeper into debt.
7. Even if the funds are raised, the state’s “preferred” design won’t help traffic—not in Seattle.
6. It dumps its additional new traffic onto the same old I-5. The one new ramp to I-5 connects to the express lanes only and actually does away with one of them. Worse, this new ramp serves only carpools headed from the Eastside to downtown mornings and from downtown to the Eastside afternoons.
5. Today’s Lake Washington Boulevard exit/entrance to 520 will be no more. Vehicles heading between 520 and Madison will be dumped directly into the Montlake mess. Congestion problems crossing the Montlake Cut will be “solved” by adding a second drawbridge where everyone can stop together to watch the ships go by.
4. Despite its cost, the state’s “preferred alternative” ignores public health, increases noise and pollution.
3. At the edge of the Arboretum and over Portage Bay, it more than doubles—in spots nearly triples—the width of 520 today. In the middle of Lake Washington it looms 20 to 30 feet above the water—44 feet just offshore of Madison Park.
2. It wreaks havoc on the natural beauty, the trees, trails, parks, wetlands and waterfront that make this city a good place to live.
1. Seattle can do better than this.
Kinda like the situation we have, right here.
I dunno... I guess the "stupid" disease must be catching.
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I inadvertantly deleted this comment instead of posting it:
ReplyDeleteMartin Hash has left a new comment on your post "We're not the only place with an unnecessary bridg...":
It's eerie how those complaints are mirrored so idiomatically against our own bridge project...
The message I take is that tasks of this magnitude require cooperation from both parties - those pushing it AND those being dragged.
I WANT to build a bridge - in both senses of the word.
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I want to build a bridge as well... but somewhere else, for a lot less money, without lifetime tolls like they're trying to use because they know they're going to lose the loot rail vote.
ReplyDeleteThe plan now is to escape a vote by including the light rail maintenance as part of the tolls. Of course this is dishonest, underhanded, and arrogant - just the kind of thing we have come to expect on this project.
ReplyDeleteHere's my plan:
(1) The bridge only costs $500 million or so - the other $3 billion is for "infrastructure." So why are we paying tolls for infrastructure? Don't other States west of the Mississippi build infrastructure without tolls.
(2) Go ahead and build the $500 million dollar bridge. Get $200 million from the Feds just like other states, then go ahead and charge tolls for the other $300 million, just like other states.
(3) Design and build for light rail (for the future) but put it to a vote now. If it wins, build light rail - if it loses, wait 5 years and try again.
(4) Most IMPORTANT! Get the politics ("Build Up Not Out") away from an engineering and finance issue. There are lying, dishonest, underhanded, behind-the-scenes interests pushing their "urban planning" agenda by extorting CRC. It is not the engineers at RTC who are at blame - we must identify the culprits in this fiasco and hold them responsible.
Any money spent on replacing the current I-5 bridge for any reason at this point is wasted money.
ReplyDeleteWe need additional bridges... bridges that when completed will actually improve congestion and freight mobility, which should be the critical elements which determine the expenditure of our transportation dollars.
Loot rail is a massive waste of money, and inn this case, the ONLY reason bridgers/looters want to stick it to 65,000 commuters and their families every day... so we can, in effect, spend billions on a project to give their union buds work, enrich the favored few contractors, stiff us with massive cost overruns, and toll us forever... costing the average commuter tens of thousands of dollars over their commuting lifetime, dollars that will be vaporized out of our local economy in a horrific way that will hurt small business at the cellular level.
Build a bridge? No problem. But don't wreck the perfectly serviceable bridge we already have because the very few have a loot rail fetish that will add major debt and, ultimately, do nothing to address the issues most important.
And, as we can see, there is no lie those in government shilling this won't try; no exaggeration... no scam or manipulation they won't engage in to get their way
Sickening.