{"id":101359,"date":"2009-12-23T19:40:53","date_gmt":"2009-12-24T00:40:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2010581957_focusingonthealaskanwayviaduct.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2009-12-23T19:40:53","modified_gmt":"2009-12-24T00:40:53","slug":"focusing-on-the-alaskan-way-viaduct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/101359","title":{"rendered":"Focusing on the Alaskan Way Viaduct"},"content":{"rendered":"

Only downtown Seattle will benefit<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Times editorial \u201cNeeded: tunnel vision on viaduct,\u201d [Opinion, Dec. 22] recommended tunnel vision for the replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct.<\/p>\n

I have just the opposite conclusion.<\/p>\n

Given a view of all events in the past eight years, a tunnel is the peak example of tunnel vision. First, last, and always, a tunnel benefits only organized and\/or powerful interests of downtown Seattle.<\/p>\n

None of the studies and associated factors initiated by the combined agreement of the governor, mayor and King County executive in December 2008, gave any specific option leader.<\/p>\n

This decision can best be described as instant gratification for downtown.<\/p>\n

Lost in the decision was the permanent impact on anyone outside downtown Seattle, including approximately the western third of the entire city. Particularly galling is the need to charge a toll for tunnel operation and maintenance.<\/p>\n

To those impacted, a toll appears to be a tribute for passing downtown. Revising state legislation to pay for any project overruns would be a gift to only downtown Seattle.<\/p>\n

\u2014 John Storz, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n

Similar to Bridgewater sewage-treatment plant debacle<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every time I see coverage of the viaduct replacement tunnel, I think of all the problems that are occurring with the Brightwater sewage-treatment project [\u201cDeep inside King County\u2019s big dig,\u201d page one, Dec. 11].<\/p>\n

The construction and machines are similar in nature to the proposal along the waterfront. Does this not concern our elected officials?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure that plenty of feasibility studies were run prior to drilling, yet the drills in the Brightwater tunnel are broken and the whole thing is way behind schedule.<\/p>\n

No one is sure who is going to pay for the repair and cost overruns associated with downtime, or when that tunnel will actually be functional.<\/p>\n

And as for that [earthquake] video, which set us back more than $80,000 and was deemed too scary to be released, I think 90 percent of area residents are smart enough to have predicted that same scenario without the huge expense.<\/p>\n

If they were not, simple video footage of the double-decker bridge that collapsed after the earthquake in the Bay Area would have been far cheaper and much more chilling. While not exactly the same, I think any reasonable person could extrapolate that being near the viaduct and sea wall during an earthquake would be life threatening and very damaging.<\/p>\n

I, like Mayor Greg Nickels once quipped, increase my speed when I\u2019m on the viaduct. It is an accident waiting to happen. But is the road we plan to go down with this project ever going to be open?<\/p>\n

\u2014 Shauna Bellamy, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Only downtown Seattle will benefit The Times editorial \u201cNeeded: tunnel vision on viaduct,\u201d [Opinion, Dec. 22] recommended tunnel vision for the replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. I have just the opposite conclusion. Given a view of all events in the past eight years, a tunnel is the peak example of tunnel vision. First, last, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101359\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}