To sum it up -- still accurate today, even more so

A friend wrote and asked if all the politicos have their heads buried in the sand when it comes to the Viaduct.

Every politician in the State -- even Frank Chopp, I have to say with sadness, who is otherwise doing heroic work killing the Tunnel monster -- seems to be blind to the obvious.

• The Tunnel died because there was no money.
• The Rebuild will die because there is intense opposition which Gregoire et al will not find worth bucking.
• The "naked"* Surface/Transit will not gain enough support because it will be perceived as too vast & risky an "intervention" (as the architects put such things) -- which it is.
• Because of political exhaustion, other options (such as the Cable Stay bridge) which might have been truly viable, will never be fairly assessed.
• Repair & Prepare will be "the last man standing."

* By "naked" I mean the approach suggested a few days ago on KUOW in which we tear down the Viaduct and "just see what happens." Such a "plan" is bizarre and irresponsible and will in fact act to scare people away from whatever merits the Surface/Transit may have.

Comments

[Holly B]

I urge reading a Repair and Prepare letter in this week's West Seattle Herald (www.westseattleherald.com). It's written by a retired City Light engineer who reports:

"...the viaduct is only falling from the last earthquake in a short section of the viaduct at Yesler Way. This could be fixed by replacing a small section at that location. This section was the only part of the whole structure that was severely damaged by an intense gasoline fire in 1970. The fire was caused by a loaded gasoline truck-trailer, which hit the east column of the viaduct southbound on the lower deck. The fire was so intense that it burn damaged all the high voltage cables serving downtown that were located directly below that roadway....The resulting fire from the burning gasoline weakened all the reinforced concrete there."

Again, I urge reading the entire letter. Perhaps you could post a link to it.

For more about the 911-like viaduct fire (which happened in 1975), see the HistoryLink.org website.