Two more West Seattle Bridge notes, with hours to go until tonight’s town hall:
PIER 18 EXPLAINED: If you haven’t already seen this via SDOT Blog, the project email list, or our mention in the morning comment thread – SDOT has published a detailed explanation of the problem it says needs to get fixed first, the Pier 18 bearing. (18 is the one in our photo above, at left, with a pipe running down it.) Writes SDOT’s Sara Davis, “This isn’t the sole cause of cracking on the bridge, but our bridge experts think it is a major part of the problem.” And: “We’re hoping that releasing the bearings helps stabilize the bridge. If it does, then repairing the bridge may be feasible. If it turns out that releasing the bearings does not slow the cracking of the bridge, it means that the factors contributing to the cracking are much more complicated than just those due to the bearing, and that the bridge structure could be irredeemably compromised.”
FUNDING SUGGESTED: Just getting to the point where the bridge is stabilized via shoring will cost an estimated $33 million, SDOT has said – repair or replacement is an as-yet-unknown addittonal cost. So where will the money come from? West Seattle/South Park City Councilmember Lisa Herbold has suggested one possibility is to divert funding from the Center City Streetcar, a project of which she’s been critical in the past. Today in a post opposing the latest “payroll tax” proposal before the council, Councilmember Alex Pedersen – who chairs the Transportation Committee – made the same suggestion, writing, “To accelerate vital infrastructure projects like the West Seattle Bridge, we can redirect funds away from money-losing projects like the Center City Connector streetcar through downtown.”
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