crosscut.com : Alaskan Way Viaduct

Greg Nickels' rebel yell

Crosscut — Mon, 05 May 2008 23:00:01 PDT

Seattle's mayor waves the flag of secession. In so doing, he may have waved goodbye to a future in state politics.

Psst! Wanna see the Viaduct disappear?

Crosscut — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:58:01 PDT

The debate about Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct used to be a very public, contact sport, but as many local politicians were carted off the field, the controversy moved to a 30-person stakeholders group, who meet very quietly. Meanwhile, the politicians edge back onto the playing field and hint at solutions.

Sound Transit did not hear us

Crosscut — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 12:00:01 PDT

Prop. 1 was soundly defeated, but the leadership of Sound Transit plans to deliver Son of Prop. 1 to the voters this fall. The agency better get used to rejection.

Is Dino Rossi a moderate?

Crosscut — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:00:01 PDT

I wouldn't call him that, but the Republican candidate for governor has no need to run to the right to beat Christine Gregoire. Just as he did in the election cliffhanger of 2004, he can present himself as a comparatively moderate candidate, one in touch with the state's mainstream aspirations. He's starting to do that.

Chopp, Chopp! The method in the speaker's maddening ways

Crosscut — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 05:00:01 PDT

How Frank Chopp rules Olympia, and why he left the Sonic saviors sputtering. He's become a classic political boss, but he also remains true to the values of helping the poor.

More evidence that Washington infrastructure collapse is over-hyped

Crosscut — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 05:05:01 PDT

Okay, classify this as a pet peeve, but it bugs me when politicians, including Christine Gregoire, wave the bloody shirt of the Minnesota bridge collapse as an all-purpose rationale to boost infrastructure spending. Gregoire has done this often. She raised the specter of the Minnesota disaster as an argument in favor of Proposition 1 last fall; she raised it again to argue for a new toll bridge across the Columbia River, and yet again at a national governor's meeting in February. I have no quarrel with repairing or inspecting roads and bridges--please, let's do that. But the fact is, we still don't have the final word on what happened in Minnesota, so the lesson there is unclear.

When government swings the wrecking ball

Crosscut — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:00:01 PDT

Plans for Seattle Center, the University of Washington and the Capitol Campus in Olympia suggest that public agencies, like private developers, are willing to flatten historic buildings if they get in the way. What kind of historic preservation message is that?

At City Hall, a showdown over historic preservation

Crosscut — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 22:00:01 PDT

Trouble is brewing as critics and defenders of Seattle's landmarks process prepare to face off at a public meeting. Meanwhile, a lawsuit over the recent designation of a Ballard diner hangs over the debate.

Traffic's so bad, we might actually be willing to pay a toll

Crosscut — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 05:00:01 PST

Puget Sound policy-makers have been taking the public pulse. Their surveys reveal that people are generally pessimistic about the future, frustrated with traffic, and willing to pay to cross Lake Washington in a car — as long as it's really cheap.

New cure for collapsing bridges: state and union pension funds?

Crosscut — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 14:00:01 PST

With Washington facing mounting costs for roads, transit, and bridges, might the answer lie in tapping union pension funds? It certainly doesn't look like taxpayers are going to do much more. The Legislature is getting more tax averse and Eyman-minded. Bucking the costs down to a regional level, as in the defeated Proposition 1, doesn't seem to work either, as the local politicians load up any proposals with Christmas tree goodies. So if self-discipline won't tame the problem of too many claimants on too little money, maybe an infusion of money will do the trick? Enter America's second-biggest union federation, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), as well as an idea from super-dense Hong Kong.

Tear down a viaduct, and then the wars really begin

Crosscut — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:29:01 PST

We sometimes think that Seattle alone has "the Seattle malaise," meaning long-drawn-out disputes over development that often end in stalemate or ugly compromises. We are not alone. Consider this story from San Francsisco's Octavia Boulevard, as reported by John King of the San Francisco Chronicle. It's a cautionary tale for Seattle because it involves development of an area where once loomed an elevated freeway. Tear it down and you get, well, a street fight.

National perspective: Shifting campaign pledges, cold local transpo politics

Crosscut — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 12:53:01 PST

Back from a cold and snowy week in Minnesota, still hustling my new book, Seattle seems downright tropical. My first act on return was to turn down my thermostat; it seemed unseasonably warm here.

Several weeks in other towns have given me a chance to observe other places and, also, to see my home place in better perspective. Here are observations for this long weekend.

Shaky assumption: An Alaskan Way Viaduct myth is dispelled

Crosscut — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 14:55:01 PST

More movement this week on the Alaskan Way Viaduct – literal, not political. State engineers said yesterday, Jan. 23, that the elevated waterfront freeway has sunk another one-eight of an inch since the last check six months ago. In all, it's settled more than 5 inches since they started measuring shortly after the 2001 Nisqually earthquake.

Transportation: Can't we all just get along?

Crosscut — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 05:00:01 PST

An opponent of Proposition 1 opens the bidding, in hopes of finding a middle ground in the transportation wars. The peace treaty: a little more rail, no new highways, some highway fixes, unclogging arterials, tolls, and no more cute trolleys.

Is Gregoire hyping disaster to sell bridges?

Crosscut — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 22:24:01 PST

Gov. Christine Gregoire is eagerly sharing the happy news of her willingness to slap tolls on bridges and highways. She met with Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski in Clark County the other day to discuss moving ahead on a $4.2 billion new bridge over the Columbia River on I-5. The feds would pick up most of the tab, but Gregoire is set on imposing tolls. To push her agenda, she's using last summer's Minneapolis bridge collapse to make her case for urgency. Only problem is, it turns out the Minneapolis bridge disaster wasn't a case of aging infrastructure. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has concluded the problem was a design flaw.

The Vancouver gambit for building roads and transit in Seattle

Crosscut — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:29:01 PST

When British Columbia announced its $14 billion plans for new transit early this week, it upped the stakes for competition among West Coast cities in the transit Olympics. It also injected itself in what will be a hot debate in Washington — the use of private investment to build the next generation of transit and highways.

A transportation layaway plan

Crosscut — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 17:00:01 PST

To replace the Highway 520 floating bridge, will the public support the idea of paying now, getting later?

Getting rolling on road tolling

Crosscut — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:00:01 PST

It was Edgar Allan Poe who wrote "tolling, tolling, tolling,/In that muffled monotone. ..." This year, talk of road tolling and congestion pricing will increase above a whisper. With the defeat of Prop. 1 and big transportation infrastructure decisions to be made on the Alaskan Way Viaduct, the 520 floating bridge, and with federal grant money a carrot for regions that embark on road pricing plans, the tolling of Puget Sound's roads will begin to move from theory to active discussion and implementation.

Seattle's transportation malaise is nothing special

Crosscut — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 05:00:01 PST

Seattle perversely prides itself on its transportation stalemates, as if they're part of our brand. Alas, thinking locally, defying regional scale, and torpedoing big governmental projects is a grand American tradition, widely shared.

The passion of Peter Steinbrueck

Crosscut — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 05:00:01 PST

The Seattle architect leaves the wild ride of the City Council for calmer waters. But with his vision for a sustainable city and commitment to civic activism, he won't be coasting.