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— Barack Obama, July 27, 2008 (emphasis added)

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A six year-long public safety emergency mired in personal politics

Published Tue, Feb 13 2007 1:16 PM
Technorati Tags: Transportation, Annoyances

Are Greg Nickel's dreams of a tunnel doomed to fail? Or will the State Department of Transportation's findings be ignored? Will the results of the advisory vote on the Alaskan Way Viaduct's replacement mean anything? Or are Greg Nickels and the Seattle City Council so set on a tunnel that they'll give us "Big Dig Lite"? From the Seattle Times:

Seattle's proposal for a reduced, four-lane Alaskan Way tunnel should be dropped from further consideration, because of "serious operational and safety problems found during our technical review," the State Department of Transportation said in a letter released this morning.

...

Next week, advisory ballots will be mailed to Seattle voters, who are being asked to choose a four-lane tunnel, or a six-lane elevated structure. Final decisions rest with the state, where some officials have called the advisory measure flawed, or even meaningless.

The existing Alaskan Way Viaduct, built in 1953, was damaged in the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake.

It's been nearly six years, and it's likely to be another six before this is finally over with. This six year "public safety emergency" has been hampered by the personal ambitions of Greg Nickels and the Seattle City Council for too long.

Greg Nickels and the Seattle City Council don't really care about public safety. If this was really about public safety, the viaduct would have already been repaired or replaced. Instead they've fought with the state and with the voters for the last six years. They've even promised to hamper the construction of anything other than a tunnel through the permitting process, and through lawsuits.

Isn't enough enough?