Posted on 07/06/2019 4:43:08 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
SEATTLE -- The double-deck Alaskan Way Viaduct spells disaster in the event of a massive earthquake in Seattle.
It's a warning that played out in real life in Oakland, Calif., 30 years ago. The Cyprus Street Viaduct Collapse killed 42 people during the Loma Prieta Earthquake.
The stark similarities between that and our own viaduct in Seattle had experts sounding the alarm back then. Then in 2001, the Nisqually Earthquake hit at a 6.8 magnitude.
"In 2001, during the Nisqually quake, the Alaskan Way Viaduct was damaged on the north end of the Alaskan Way Viaduct," said tunnel expert Red Robinson. "The viaduct goes over the Great Northern railroad tunnel. The adjacent, almost underlying, Great Northern Tunnel that was built in 1905 suffered virtually no damage at all."
Tunnels, it turns out, are safer than the surface during an earthquake.
"A tunnel is in the ground and it's surrounded by the ground, so when the ground moves the tunnel moves," explained Steve Kramer from University of Washington. "It moves with the ground, so the amount of deformation that's imposed on a tunnel is going to be typically much lower than it is in a structure that's above ground."
(Excerpt) Read more at q13fox.com ...
So, who wants to be stuck in this thing right after the earthquake, when the tsunami is on its way?
An oldie but a goodie from January.
The Titanic was unsinkable too.
I take a government offical’s word for it, about like I take a woman’s text over the internet when it comes to sincerity.
There are good ones. There are bad ones. Take with a liberal dose of skepticism.
Safest place to be during an earthquake is nowhere near anything that might fall on you.
Seems to go without saying, really, but apparently newspapers don’t agree.
Yeah right, a tunnel is the safest place in an earthquake.
Orwell was just a few decades off.
Because everyone can make to the tunnel in a couple of minutes?
I agree that you don’t want to be on the lower level of a two-tiered highway during an earthquake, but I also wouldn’t want to be in a tunnel built in unstable landfill adjacent to former tide flats, as is this tunnel. Even a relatively small breach of a foot or two would be disastrous
Tunnels, eh? Look up “the big dig”
The tunnel is only as “safe” as its weakest points which is at the tow open ends of the tunnel, which could experience collapse of those entrance and exist points, trapping the “safe” perasons inside.
No. Put me in an open field away from any structures.
Oh yeah, I want to be in a tunnel with tons of dirt and rock over my head during an earthquake.
I’ve done construction projects in Alameda CA. We stayed in Oakland and commuted thru the Posey Tube (as in underwater) to Alameda. After a while, my workers complained of “Carpool Tunnel Syndrome.”
Right, and the "Big Dig" tunnel in Boston had cement ceiling panels fall down from no earthquake at all.
The Stallone movie, Daylight comes to mind.
Except perhaps the BART tunnel under SF Bay, that I refused to ever get in. Bay Bridge good enough, I’d rather drive. in spite of the fact that part of it went down during a quake.
Open field.
My house was seriously damaged by the Nisqually quake.
Had to move the family into a motel for several weeks while they made repairs.
Fortunately, there was a misprint on my insurance policy, so the amount of the earthquake deductible was left blank (and apparently printed instead a few blank spaces further down the policy).
Since immediately after the blank space, the policy very explicitly said $500 deductible if blank, the insurer had to pay for all but $500 of the repair cost, rather than sticking me with the $30,000 deductible they were trying to claim applied.
Especially if there are a lot of people in it. That makes it easier to drag the rocks and dirt away that slid down the hillside and blocked the entrances.
Tunnels can have poison rocks in the ceiling. One drop will kill you.
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