Seattle Council President writes an April Fool's piece on the highway 520 Project - with a political spin, as reprinted in Crosscut.
This reads like a light hearted slam against folks who are stilling making good points about the preferred 'A+' design, the Montlake cut tunnel, option 'K' become option 'M'.
It may well be the case that this approach is too expensive, it however was not a fantastical idea not worthy of study. WashDot has spent over $200 million on studying various alternatives - this is too much - but it makes it all the more clear that we should have the public money spent on fairly and fully analyzing various alternatives.
Instead what we got is a finely tuned fix against constructive public involvement, padding costs on the neighborhood suggestion while underestimating the costs of the 'status quo' option, for no other reason than the denigration of the public.
This is perhaps best seen on the design of transit service in the area. Though the legislature is going full speed ahead on their 'A+' alternative, the design, and costs, of the still needed transit improvements to the original option 'A' have not been finished. This is a major red flag for a planned cost overrun.
The big question of whether light rail will **ever** go across this bridge, and how it will share the Montlake Station need to be answered. Though I'm not a fan of converting the third lane to transit only from the opening, the negotiating position of McGinn is a good one and any media member, or politician, who dismisses it is only damaging their credibility as a steward of public monies.
Engineering a facility such as the 520 Bridge is a major task, but we must insist that our professional engineers in service of the public respect the public. The public must also respect the engineers, and the Montlake neighborhood, in spite of the corporate media effort to 'tea party' has the ability and attitude to do this. And, FWIW, their ability likely exceeds that of both our local reporting staff AND our electeds....
-Douglas Tooley
P.S. Here's a link to my first writing on the subject, back in 1988!
http://www.motleytools.com/blog/1988/06/20_years_ahead_of_its_time.html
