WSDOT: Drop the Tunnel Lite

Breaking news:

Seattle's proposal for a reduced, four-lane Alaskan Way tunnel should be dropped from further consideration, because of "serious operational and safety problems found during our technical review," the State Department of Transportation said in a letter released this morning.

Hmm... Would that be the four-lane tunnel that Seattle voters will be voting on with the upcoming "advisory ballot"? Yes, indeed it would be:

Next week, advisory ballots will be mailed to Seattle voters, who are being asked to choose a four-lane tunnel, or a six-lane elevated structure. Final decisions rest with the state, where some officials have called the advisory measure flawed, or even meaningless.

I'll say. If the state says "this idea will never work," then it really doesn't matter if the city (for some reason) chooses that idea anyway, now does it?

(Mike Lindblom, Seattle Times, 02.13.2007)

Doh.

Oh, snap.

A new express bus ramp above Interstate 405 in Kirkland has cracked because of a design blunder, so it will need to be partly rebuilt at a cost of $2 million to $3 million.
...
The roadway cracked lengthwise where a wide concrete slab hangs partly over the freeway in what the DOT says is an innovative cantilevered design.

Like an overloaded teeter-totter, the slab cracked down the center and sagged an inch at one of its far ends...

"Innovative..." Heh.

(Mike Lindblom, Seattle Times, 02.02.2007)