520 Bridge Not Long For This World
This wasn't intended to be a one-post-per-week kind of blog, but I guess that's what it has been the last few weeks. Oh well, I can't change the past. But I will try to make updates more frequently from this point forward (not counting this coming Thursday-Sunday, when I will be out of town).
Moving on to the latest big traffic news... As I'm sure you've heard, it turns out that the 520 bridge is a bit worse off than we may have previously thought.
The aging Evergreen Point floating bridge across Lake Washington needs to be replaced soon, officials said after a weekend inspection of the span.If the Viaduct is any indication, now that we know that 520 has a serious problem, it will only take approximately five years of committee meetings, focused studies, and "consensus building" before we actually start on a real solution. Given the Puget Sound's stellar reputation when it comes to bridges, I think your best bet would be to just avoid the bridge if at all possible.
"This bridge is in jeopardy. This bridge is aging. This bridge needs to be replaced," said Dave Dye, urban corridors administrator with the Washington state Department of Transportation, in a tour with politicians, media and community members.
More than 6,000 feet of cracks in the walls of the bridge were the most obvious signs that the structure, now in its fifth decade, is reaching the end of its useful life.
(Associated Press, Seattle P-I, 06.19.2006)
1 comment:
And don't forget that both the neighborhoods that are on each end are some of the most affluent in the region...
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