Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Why Is the 520 Bridge So Expensive?

There's a webpage on the Seattle Channel about the 520 bridge. It's full of gross errors regarding the length of the bridge, depth of the water, etc. which I've address previously (they must have used the WSDOT 520 page as their source). I just loved this little blurb though:

University of Washington officials are considering asking state leaders for compensation for the disruption construction would cost their campus. They say fans may stay home from football and basketball games to avoid traffic issues.

What? It could have an adverse impact during construction on football games! Who needs the damn bridge anyway. But wait, there's more:

Did you know?
The state of Washington is home to many of the largest floating bridges in the world:
* SR 520 Evergreen Point Bridge
* I-90 Lacey V. Murrow Bridge - ... it sank ...
* I-90 Homer M. Hadley Bridge
* SR 104 Hood Canal Bridge - ... the bridge sank

To quote the famous line from "Python and the Holy Grail", Not Dead Yet!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, football is the largest and most profitable program at the U of W, so maybe they can just get rid of some students instead.

They're as bad as those goobers on M.I. that tied up I-90 construction in litigation for a decade or so.

Jack said...

Option A: An LID at Madrona and Clyde Hill to cover any costs over the refit or demolition costs.

Option B: An LRT option. Refit the bridge to last another 10 years, use $2B to build LRT from Roosevelt to Woodinville via Lake City Way, $1B for an extention off of East Link rom Bellevue to Kirkland, and save taxpayers that fourth billion that the bridge would have cost. S.R. 520 is worth plenty to the region, but $4B? Not when there are better projects out there. A "no bridge" option would have the benefit of reducing traffic on I-5 and I-405 as well.

Bernie Hayden said...

I like it a LID (Local Improvement District)to "cover" the cost of the Lid (park on top of freeway).

I'm not sure $2B gets you Link from UW to Woodinville. Maybe. A Billion to extend Link to Kirkland would be plenty if they used the old BNSF ROW and tied in at the proposed Hospital station. A no bridge option would also make for a much nicer lake and the benefits to the Arboretum would be huge. The big concern I have would be commercial traffic. Forcing it all across I-90 and then up 405 would be a major issue.