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(SEATTLE, WA) The boring machine called Bertha that was supposed to dig an underground tunnel to replace the aging double decker freeway on the surface, malfunctioned and broke last year when it ran into some underground steel water pipes that they forgot to remove. The boring machine has been stuck a hundred feet underground since December of last year.
The geniuses in charge of this operation then decided to dig a hundred foot hole to get access to the boring machine to repair it. But of course the rain in Seattle has caused the hole to flood with water. The rain combined with the water pouring out of the broken water pipes may have overwhelmed their ability to pump it out. And has also caused the buildings above the tunnel to sink at least an inch or more, causing structural damage. Worse, the state engineers seemed to have lied about this damage in their inspection reports, denying that there was any damage to the buildings. But the news reports shows otherwise, with business owners in Pioneer Square reporting cracks and other damage that weren't there before. One guy said he was afraid the ground might open up and swallow up his store. The waterfront freeway was a dumb idea to begin with, but replacing it with a hugely expensive underground tunnel was even dumber.
Yup. Big Dig in Boston all over again. When I was living in Prague they were digging a tunnel for the billion dollar highway a park fell into the tunnel. On the upside, it was a park instead of downtown Seattle.
As a native of the Boston Metropolitan area, I'd like to thank Seattle for screwing up their Big Dig more than we did with our own.
On a side note, I do like the idea of putting downtown highways underground. As you can see from Boston's Big Dig, the city is much more beautiful now that 93 has disappeared. However, there's got to be a way they can do it better.
Yup. Big Dig in Boston all over again. When I was living in Prague they were digging a tunnel for the billion dollar highway a park fell into the tunnel. On the upside, it was a park instead of downtown Seattle.
City and state transportation officials are investigating a street adjacent to the Alaskan Way Viaduct
Replacement Project in Seattle because a portion of the road is cracked and sinking.
Wow, it just gets better and better.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chirack
IMHO freeways in tunnels rarely make sense. It costs an fortune and probably not easy to add exits to.
At $3.50 toll each way, I wonder who would be using this tunnel. I'm sure the Seattle city council members
could easily afford it after lining their pockets with those juicy kickbacks while enjoying their very own
personal toll road (if it ever gets finished).
Not for nothing, but the real urbanists in Seattle said to just get rid of the damn highway and put an at grade boulevard there.
Urban freeways are fairly idiotic ideas and a 100 years from now most of them will be gone from the urban cores.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AJNEOA
This is the right idea IMO. At grade boulevards are much cheaper and more pleasant for everyone. They can also move a good amount of traffic.
But a big wide boulevarde might not be much better than a freeway in terms of cutting off the city and the people from the waterfront. I would just pull down the double decker and build a waterfront park in its place, and scrap the tunnel idea. Why build any roads at all? Maybe a narrow road for a trolley and service vehicles but that's about it, no cars allowed. Anyone know what they're planning to do with the space occupied by the old freeway after it's torn it down?
“The concern is these are old; they have sunk, causing deflection of the joints,” SPU expert Gavin Patterson said.
There could be flooding issues if the pipes are not replaced. Experts say the replacement could cost millions.
Could?
Being Seattle and all there is no doubt it will cost hundreds of millions.
Being curious I looked up prevailing wage rates for King County and the lowly laborer gets $42.67/hour plus benefits while any sort of power equipment user gets $50+ per hour.
I'll betcha anything labor alone runs $15,000 plus an hour to man the job. Actually I bet it is at least double that.
A project like this never shuts down so it's a 24/7 operation costing $360,000 a day, $2.5 million a week for $131 million a year and that is just for labor on the job.
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