That Other Viaduct Option

One option I failed to mention in yesterday's post about our favorite local elevated highway was the "just fix it" option. Today the Times ran a piece on Victor Gray, the man with the mission to convince the city to do just that.

Gray, a retired structural and civil engineer, took his campaign Thursday to the Seattle Marine Business Coalition, asserting that the viaduct could be braced to withstand a 500-year earthquake at a cost of about $800 million, including replacing the Alaskan Way Seawall. That's a fraction of the $2.5 billion to $4.5 billion the state said replacing the viaduct, or putting it in a tunnel, would cost.

"I can't believe the state is pursuing [replacement] without considering a bracing system," Gray said.

That's because you don't understand just how much people in government love spending money, Victor.

(Susan Gilmore, Seattle Times via Sound Politics, 04.14.2006)