Posted on 05/08/2014 5:57:18 PM PDT by Veto!
By Dan SpringerPublished May 08, 2014FoxNews.comFacebook476 Twitter508 Gplus0
At 57 feet in diameter, it's touted as the world's biggest tunneling machine. It was even given a name, Bertha.
But now, after digging just over 1,000 feet, Bertha is broken down and stuck underneath Seattle's downtown waterfront.
And fixing the massive mess could cost taxpayers millions.
The tunneling machine is the key workhorse in a $3.1 billion tunnel project aimed at replacing the Alaska Way Viaduct, a double-decker elevated highway that was damaged in the 2001 Nisqually earthquake. Bertha's meltdown, though, has put the project in jeopardy of being the West Coast version of the biggest public works boondoggle in U.S. history,
Read on for the unbelievably stupid details…..
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I lived near Seattle when replacement of the old viaduct was debated. It was CLEARLY going to end up this way…drilling a massive tunnel through landfill, if you can imagine, had no possibility of a good outcome. And still, the citizens voted for it. Made me wonder whether 80% of the people in Seattle were a) mental midgets, b) on the take, or c) just run-of-the-mill liberal idiots.
One young City Council member suggested knocking down the viaduct after widening the surface street below. Cheaper, faster, doable--naturally he was almost run out of town on a rail.
If the state decides to get into this, innocent taxpayers in Eastern WA, where many conservatives live, will be expected to pony up for this stupid liberal scam. Big sigh.
Yeppers. Not much of surprise. The people of Seattle voted down the elevated monorail, which would have been much better than the light rail and trolleys they have now.
/johnny
Probably should have just waited until they extended the high speed rail line from Southern California to them. Tunnels and elevated highways are so yesterday.
I recall a memo put out by Boeing in the 1950s. “In case
of an atomic bomb attack, sit where you are. The front of
Seattle is land fill, so are we. There’s nowhere to hide”.
or words to that affect.
The overriding philosophy in Seattle seems to be “Halt all traffic now.” If you ever drove thru Seattle at rush hour, you’ll remember the horrible frustration of traffic piling up at every single red light, at every single corner, while exhaust fumes poison the city.
This is intentional. No kidding. City Council voted to make driving in Seattle the most inefficient, unpleasant experience in the Western World, hoping people would stop driving into town — ever.
Why not just hire excavators and manual laborers to dig the old fashioned way?
Has anyone tried jiggling it? Lefty loosey, righty tighty.
It was a little surprising to read that it was a city well that brought Bertha to a grinding halt. It’s not like there’s no physical evidence of a well on the surface. Like big water pipes, electric poles, fencing, signs, that kind of stuff. Did the contractor not have someone walking the drill path? What happens now? Is Bertha to be buried in cement and call it a day?
I used to live near Seattle in Kitsap county. The city of Bremerton spent a fortune to build a tunnel so cars exiting the ferry could drive underground 2 blocks leaving the area open to pedestrians. The city then kicked out the only businesses that were there (bars) and now it’s a dark, no-man’s land. Dumbest thing I’ve ever witnessed (except perhaps the condos the city built right before the market crash).
They spent millions to conclude that they should spend the most money to use unproven technology. I don’t know if the announcement press conference is online, but their smug, self-satisfied press conference when they announced this plan was over the top.
And don't forget that Mt. Rainier, a nearby volcano, could take out the city and burbs. I used to live across the Sound on the high point of an island that would probably survive all quakes, tsunamis, and stupidities caused by libs. In a weird way, I sort of looked forward to having a front row seat for the next disaster.
I live there and they are liberal idiots. God help us taxpayers. Also, landfill is unstable and we do have earthquakes. What will happen to the tunnel when there is a big earthquake? I would certainly hate to be in the tunnel when that happens.
Why not? Because it might work, that’s why not. Liberalthink 101.
Seattle Monorail Project
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUoqeRADp4Q
/johnny
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