"The contingency plan is in draft form at this time."

Context for out-of-town readers: The Alaskan Way Viaduct is an elevated highway which runs through the heart of downtown Seattle and provides a crucial north-south link for about 100,000 trips per day.

•••

"The contingency plan is in draft form at this time."

So wrote Maureen Sullivan (official spokesperson of the Washington State Department of Transportation), on September 27, 2004 about plans to deal with the ensuing emergency should 'the big one' (i.e. earthquake) demolish the aging Alaskan Way Viaduct, as one did to a similar viaduct in Kobe, Japan in 1995:

click to enlarge
(photo credit: Viaduct of the Hanshin Expressway no. 3 lies fallen)

A falling viaduct is not a joking matter.

The Nisqually Earthquake of February 28, 2001 made the entire State of Washington a "disaster area." And that wasn't that big a quake. So people are worried. No one doubts, least of all the Department of Transportation, that loss of the Viaduct will be a very serious emergency. See also Be Very Afraid, The Alaskan Way Viaduct is a Disaster Waiting to Happen. It's Time to Stop Talking and Start Working.(11/27/03)

I had asked Ms. Sullivan about the status (see my posts here and here) of contingency plans in anticipation of this emergency.

The answer? Four and one half years later and "The contingency plan is in draft form at this time." (She also wrote that "...we started to develop a more detailed contingency plan about a year and one half ago.")

We are reminded of the issue every day. Today, for example: Shaking at St. Helens and elsewhere makes West Coast jittery.

Download the complete email response from WSDOT here. And weep.

•••

I am no geologist but I assume that there is some connection -- not direct one-to-one but both signs of an evolving earth -- between eruptions of volcanoes and earthquakes:

Warning: Mt. St. Helen Could Blow

One scientist is sounding fairly sure there'll be a small eruption at Mount St. Helen in the next few days -- putting the chances at 70 percent...In Washington State today, scientists are warning that Mt. St. Helen could blow again. Scientists have issued an alert, telling people to stay away from the mountain because the lava inside is rising.

Should we stay away from the Viaduct?

Comments

[wlai]

I'm a transplant and so I may be biased here, but does it seem to you that management of infrastructure and public works in the state of Washington is just horrendous? This is after all the state that gave us the destruction of the first Tacoma Narrows bridge, the sinking of the Hood Canal bridge in 1979, and the sinking of the I-90 span in the early 90's. I challenge anyone to find a challenger to WA DOT in terms of a record of failure.

Meanwhile, the Viaduct and the 520 bridge is awaiting similar fate.

I wonder frequently whether it's a matter of resource being an income-tax free state that cause it to make such short sighted decisions, from mass transit (i.e. the lack of) to replacement of crumpling roads and bridges.

[bkmiller]

Hey. We are still debating the Bay Bridge in Northern California 15 years after Loma Prieta. And, according to some (biased) sources, the desire to get a "signature" structure means that we are paying for a hugely expensive design that has never been tested in an earthquake and that could, some sources (like a world-renowned UC Berkeley emeritus professor of engineering) claim, unravel if one cable is cut.

[Anna]

"I assume that there is some connection -- not direct one-to-one but both signs of an evolving earth -- between eruptions of volcanoes and earthquakes"

I've read that this time of year is (for Calif. at least) when earthquakes are most likely, because the ground is driest, hence weighs the least, thus is easiest to move. Not sure if the same holds for earthquakes, but it might.

[David Sucher]

The really depressing thing about this story is that when I mention it to freinds and neighbors --"Do you realize that the WSDOT does not have a contingency plan if rhe Voaduct goes down in an earthquake?" -- is that nobody seems surprised or shocked or appalled. The general reaction is "Well what do you expect from the government?"

I used to think that I was cynical but I am a raving idealist compared to many.