WEST SEATTLE BRIDGE: Stabilization contractor announced

6:49 PM: Just announced by SDOT:

Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) is moving forward with West Seattle High-Rise Bridge stabilization. The City used emergency contracting authority to move with urgency in selecting a construction contractor to carry out Phase 1 stabilization work. Kraemer North America has been selected for Phase 1 construction and work is already underway.

There are three phases of repair for the West Seattle High-Rise Bridge:

Phase 1: Stabilization – The first step in stabilizing the bridge was to remove traffic from the High-Rise bridge on March 23. The second step is to repair lateral bearings on Pier 18.

Phase 2: Shoring – In Phase 2 we will add temporary external structures called shoring. Shoring is necessary to help support the bridge as we continue to assess repair feasibility, timeline, and costs.

Phase 3: Long-term repair – We do not yet know if repair of the bridge is feasible technically or financially. In the meantime, it’s critical that we carry out stabilization and shoring work to protect public safety.

Earlier this month we sent out a Request for Information (RFI) to determine who we would contract with to begin Phase 1 stabilization work on the West Seattle High-Rise Bridge, as quickly as possible.

Though this emergency situation authorized SDOT to waive all competitive bidding requirements (pursuant to RCW 39.04.280). On April 13, the City contacted six contractors and requested information on capacity, availability, resumes for key personnel, and approach. Four contractors provided the requested information by April 15, and our Capital Projects and Roadway Structures divisions evaluated and rated the submittals while also taking into consideration the City’s previous experience with the contractors and other factors.

This process selected Kraemer to fulfill the needs of the project.

Kraemer is a 109-year-old, engineering-minded, construction-focused contractor with a foundation in complicated structure work. The team’s construction experience directly relates to the High-Rise Bridge’s repairs.

Kraemer is an industry leader in segmental bridge repair and construction, as well as in concrete post-tensioning. This expertise will allow the team to carry out key stabilization activities, help in forensic investigation of the bridge, provide the engineering team with construction input to determine the best approach to stabilization, and confirm repair estimates.

With recent work on WSDOT’s Duwamish River Bridges Project, Kraemer also comes with a detailed understanding of the immediate vicinity, as well as knowledge of US Coast Guard permitting requirements. This is essential because obtaining these permits – or not – could add or subtract months to any stabilization, shoring, repair, or replacement efforts.

Kraemer’s northwest headquarters are located here in Seattle, with a committed, locally experienced team.

With a current contract to construct the new Northgate Bike and Pedestrian Bridge, which broke ground earlier this year, Kraemer understands the complexities of working in and around the City of Seattle. Finally, Kraemer has also worked closely with WSP, our bridge consultant. This relationship, which allows for a quick team integration and efficient approach to the work, will be essential as we move forward with stabilization work.

Kraemer is excited to help the people of West Seattle and others who rely on this critical infrastructure by delivering stabilization, shoring, and repairs quickly and safely.

Kraemer will provide the construction for Phase 1 stabilization work.  

They will conduct repairs designed to stop further cracking in the bridge’s most vulnerable sections.
They will then replace the lateral bearings on Pier 18 at the east end of the bridge. These bearings, when working correctly, allow the bridge to expand and contract with temperature change.

They will work with SDOT and the engineering consultant team to develop and finalize strengthening solutions for the bridge.
Kraemer’s first priority is to provide a constructability review of the West Seattle High-Rise Bridge stabilization designs.

A “constructability review” is critical to getting a construction project off the ground quickly and performing work safely. The contractor reviews the designs produced by the engineers to determine how easily it can be built and to provide input. In addition, the project leads at Kraemer are starting to develop plans for construction, health and safety, equipment and material procurement, work timelines and schedules, and permitting.

The bridge has been closed since March 23. We’ll be following up on questions not answered in the announcement such as projected cost/timeline.

9:55 PM: Here’s the work Kraemer is doing on the Duwamish River Bridges (the two spans that comprise what’s more commonly known as the 1st Avenue S. Bridge).

93 Replies to "WEST SEATTLE BRIDGE: Stabilization contractor announced"

  • WSJ April 30, 2020 (7:01 pm)

    Hey look, it turns out SDOT *has* been busy doing something, and the complaints about a lack of urgency were just hot air by ignorant haters. Shocking!

    • Michael Bailey April 30, 2020 (7:33 pm)

      Not really. They essentially sent out an email to contractors for a project with abstract scope. This isn’t an significant milestone.

      • WSJ April 30, 2020 (8:01 pm)

        Sent our requests, received them, evaluated vendors, and started the work. That’s only “nothing” in the minds of people who don’t know how any of this works. 

        • NotEntitled April 30, 2020 (8:34 pm)

          Agreed. But most people would rather complain than learn about how anything works and government is an easy target. This is an epic project, nothing will happen quickly. We should be holding the original contractors/inspectors accountable, it’s not that old so you know some are still around.

          • BBILL April 30, 2020 (9:47 pm)

            Spending good money chasing bad money: It’s near impossible to collect millions of dollars after 35+ years, and that’s assuming some responsible entity could be identified, damages could be proved, and a judgment could be obtained.

        • Michael Bailey May 1, 2020 (7:31 pm)

          I was a contract officer in the Army. The skids can be greased. Especially in this case where the prime contractor is doing a lot of city contracts. 

          I was a lead project manager on several road projects in Asia (admittedly no bridges). These people probably all know each other pretty well. Again. This isn’t a milestone. In fact its likely the SOW will significantly change when the contractor actually figures out what needs to be done.

          • Michael Bailey May 1, 2020 (8:00 pm)

            Shoring may not be the only option. In fact, it’s likely being pursued under the assumption that their budget consists of current funds.   
            Additionally, when I say responsibility I specifically mean there should be an investigation into this failure. I wouldn’t be surprised if this some knowledge of this issue from a person in maintenance operations (that extends beyond the short term).   Beyond the notion of liability we should understand why a 30 year old bridge is failing.

            @wsjI dont hide behind an alias. Feel free to schedule an appointment with me to troll in person.

      • BBILL April 30, 2020 (8:15 pm)

        Please outline the “significant milestones.”

        • Michael Bailey May 1, 2020 (8:05 pm)

          First significant milestone would be actually having a plan and knowing what the root issue is. We have an outline of a plan and a plan to develop a plan to investigate the cause.You know. It is ok to expect public officials to be competent at their jobs.

    • Joe April 30, 2020 (7:40 pm)

      Always good to see government employees attacking blog commenters. That’s a good look.

      • WSJoe April 30, 2020 (7:53 pm)

        SDoT has a troll farm?

      • WSJ April 30, 2020 (7:57 pm)

        You caught me, I’m SamZ’s personal PR assistant. 

        • WSJoe April 30, 2020 (9:17 pm)

          Sam’s HR game is fire! Personal PR assistant tags in with first comment in 12 minutes!

          • WSJ April 30, 2020 (9:43 pm)

            I get paid per comment, and it comes directly out of the shoring budget.

      • Paul F April 30, 2020 (8:30 pm)

        Is it OK with you if I, a non-government-affiliated blog reader, call the complaints about a lack of urgency just a bunch of hot air by ignorant haters, Joe?  Because I wouldn’t want to be accused of having a “bad look”, whatever that is.

    • Um, No! May 1, 2020 (6:41 am)

      Yeah,  they’ve chosen a local contractor with over a hundreds years of experience with bridges.  My faith in City Counsel and SDOT has been fully restored!   Six weeks in and we’re looking good!  Woohooo!  (And for WSJ, I will type this slow……..l……y,    this……………………….is………………………….sar……………………..casm) 

    • David Witcraft May 1, 2020 (2:39 pm)

      Have you been on W Marginal SW lately? Morgan Junction to Highland Pk? The giant pat on SDOT’s back might be tempered by the realization that they haven’t even addressed the low hanging fruit in traffic mitigation. On a more positive note, private vehicle traffic on the Low Bridge is uninhibited. Great job sheltering in place SPD!

      • WSB May 1, 2020 (4:29 pm)

        They’ve been out every day in multiple dayparts, issuing citations, so no, it’s not “uninhibited.”

  • Jon Wright April 30, 2020 (7:07 pm)

    How can this be? According to all the Expert Commentators here, SDOT has just been sitting around twiddling their thumbs, doing nothing!

    • heartless April 30, 2020 (7:13 pm)

      Oh, you!

    • Mat May 1, 2020 (11:16 am)

      Among all of the information they continue to share they didn’t include this key detail (moving forward with an RFI to find a contractor). I for one am an annoyed they didn’t and would have thought with all of the flak they’re getting they’d have said something. 

  • West Seattle since 1979 April 30, 2020 (7:14 pm)

    Wow! 

  • Ernie April 30, 2020 (7:17 pm)

    WOW!“West Seattle Bridge Now” immaculately, immediate success!

    • Time travel April 30, 2020 (8:06 pm)

      Yeah, they went back in time to April 15th and got SDOT to do something before the group had even formed. Maybe they can use their time travel technology to fix the bridge. 

  • Michael Bailey April 30, 2020 (7:23 pm)

    This is a bad plan. We need to understand the long term viability of the bridge. It’s senseless to repair a bridge that needs to be demolished. Also. Someone needs to take responsibility for this catastrophe. Until that happens any long term solution will likely be tainted by poor decisions and leadership.

    • WSJ April 30, 2020 (7:58 pm)

      I’ll type this slowly so you can understand… shoring is required to keep the bridge from falling down, killing people, destroying the lower bridge, and to buy enough time to know if it *can* be repaired. This is not “the repair”, it’s the first, necessary step, to ANY work, including demolition.

      • Jon May 1, 2020 (8:23 am)

        WSJ, your consistent condescending comments are a bit much.

    • T April 30, 2020 (8:27 pm)

      I must disagree with you Mr. Bailey, finding someone to blame before starting to fix the problem is one of many reasons why it is so difficult to get anything done in this city. Maybe simultaneously, but certainly not before getting started.  Also I am assuming you are referring to the shoring as the repairing. That needs to be accomplished to demolish as well as repair. No decision has yet been made as to demolish or repair.

    • Buttercup April 30, 2020 (10:32 pm)

      They didn’t say this was to restore it. It is to shore it up so it doesn’t fall on the public below it. 

    • Carrie May 1, 2020 (5:46 am)

      I’m not overwhelmingly pleased with this whole process either and I’m very worried about whether any long term repair is viable, but it seems clear that shoring up the bridge to ensure it is not a danger to the public and to the lower bridge is obviously indicated and necessary. I’m glad that they are moving forward and seem to have identified a good vendor to do the work. 

    • Mcharon May 1, 2020 (7:48 am)

      Don’t worry the next big announcement about the bridges will be that the city is going to push the new light rail bridge through to west seattle. Which is the only.reason both bridges were closed /limited simultaneously. And that is why the bus lanes on Avalon were redone. 

      • WSB May 1, 2020 (10:21 am)

        You can toss that conspiracy theory. Whether there would be a light-rail bridge or not has NEVER been at issue. The plan was always to build a new light-rail bridge in addition to the current bridge. The question now is whether – IF the West Seattle Bridge is unfixable – its replacement might be a bridge carrying cars and light rail.

    • Keil May 1, 2020 (12:44 pm)

      1+

  • psps April 30, 2020 (7:35 pm)

    SDOT says, “traffic won’t be returning to the West Seattle High-Rise Bridge in 2020 or 2021.”

  • Villagegreen April 30, 2020 (7:35 pm)

    Kramerica!

    • sw April 30, 2020 (8:00 pm)

      Giddy-up!

    • Joan May 1, 2020 (7:39 am)

      Villagegreen: My first thought!!! Oh no!

  • Chemist April 30, 2020 (8:04 pm)

    Good that shoring work is underway.  Any chance we can find out what design concepts were presented to the city prior to the Feb 7 2020-dated memo?

    • aCG April 30, 2020 (8:55 pm)

      That’s interesting, Chemist. Yes, I’d be interested in seeing that too. 

  • GAM April 30, 2020 (8:33 pm)

    WSB,  has the city/SDOT consulted with any other engineering firms other than the person from Toronto?    Did they get a second opinion?If frozen lateral bearings were the main issue”This problem has likely contributed to the accelerated cracking in the center of the bridge.“I’m hoping freeing the bearings will release the strain and stop the cracks.    I wonder how often they inspect the bearings and what caused the bearings to become pinched,  unstable soil?   

  • Corruption April 30, 2020 (8:38 pm)

    Riddle me this, everyone who blames government waste and lack of speed on the notion of “corruption”… is having a no-bid fast-track proposal a good thing because it’s urgent, or a bad thing because of a lack of oversight? Can’t have it both ways. Should we slow down and make sure there’s no graft? 

    • Andrew K April 30, 2020 (9:51 pm)

      Come on. This is an emergency situation. Every step of repair will be documented and timed so there’s no fudging on the invoice. It will be engineering, time, and material. SDOT will be living with and looking over the shoulder on their work.

    • BBILL April 30, 2020 (11:12 pm)

      How many vendors are well-equipped to replace that bearing right away? Also Kraemer North America has performed work in this area, is working with the city on another project. Sure there will likely be some challenges that come up, but the risk has been minimized given the urgent nature to repair this unforeseen event. Beyond that, half the people here seem to want the city to move faster, and then there are those who want to take much more time to ensure that the work is high quality. In this case, I suspect there will be a trifecta: skilled and experienced labor, at a reasonable price, and right away.

      • Nora May 1, 2020 (7:37 am)

        Good, quick, cheap: pick any two.

    • Mat May 1, 2020 (11:19 am)

      I’ve dealt with some public RFIs in the past and even when followed exactly as designed they still aren’t perfect and can be gamed. I’d say in this case they made a good call and the fast track allows the freedom to get work started with a (hopefully) good vendor without having to deal with challenges from other vendors upset they didn’t get the job. 

    • sw May 1, 2020 (11:27 am)

      This is cracking me up.  Folks on here are DEMANDING ACTION AND ANSWERS, then when we actually get some of that, it gets picked apart and criticized.  You all do realize that this is a large-scale infrastructure project?  You all do realize that this will take 2 years MINIMUM before the bridge is repaired, and longer if replaced?  

  • John Smith April 30, 2020 (8:53 pm)

    I am slightly less pessimistic now than I was before the City/SDOT press release (I rate it four stars out of five, despite one incomplete sentence). The work to be done and/or proposed to be done will be interesting/fascinating. It will add to the already interesting/fascinating history of the bridge (hint: Rolf and Ruth Neslund).

    • John Smith April 30, 2020 (9:39 pm)

      Oops. After reading the actual SDOT Blog article (link provided in the WSB article), please disregard my earlier snarky mention of a (non-existent) incomplete sentence in the SDOT Blog article.

      • WSB May 1, 2020 (1:00 am)

        What’s blueblocked here is exactly as they sent it via email as a news release, between my intro and outro lines. (I didn’t have time to rewrite, we were out of the house so I had to post it by phone.) So the SDOT Blog version differs?

  • dsa April 30, 2020 (9:06 pm)

    Finally something that sounds like progress from SDOT.  We/they have an actual contractor.  We mentioned here yesterday that an emergency declaration should be called.  Turns out they already had.

  • 1994 April 30, 2020 (9:41 pm)

    Maybe they could add a side contract on the 4th Ave S bridge that has been reduced to 3 lanes over the train tracks…..get it all done with one company. 

  • West Seattle Bridge Now April 30, 2020 (9:43 pm)

    Let’s make no mistake this is progress and we all applaud it! Thank you SDOT and rest a little easier tonight everyone! Good news, 

  • Joe Z April 30, 2020 (9:51 pm)

    I think the loud complainers are a small minority. I haven’t talked to a single person who is upset about the situation. In fact, the response has been quite impressive. They quickly caught the rapid growth of cracks and responded appropriately. The 5-way intersection was fixed overnight. The detour route works pretty well. 

    • Alki April 30, 2020 (10:32 pm)

      I spent time talking to no less than 20 people tonight that are concerned. You’re either retired and go nowhere or you’re a homebody I work from home if you’re not concerned about this. Most people don’t have the luxury you have.

      • Mark47n May 1, 2020 (3:08 am)

        Perhaps you are the one bemoaning the lack of a luxury that you’ve become accustomed to. 

      • Lagartija Nick May 1, 2020 (7:50 am)

        You talked to no less than 20 people? Sure hope you were social distancing. ;)

      • Ldc May 1, 2020 (10:18 am)

        I am retired and my quality of life has, and hopefully will again, require being east of North Bend by 0800 or 0900.  Do not assume all retired folks do not have schedules!

      • Joe Z May 1, 2020 (10:34 am)

        From what I’ve seen the majority of people in my neighborhood 1) work remotely; 2) work within West Seattle or to the south; 3) take the C-line/Amazon bus to work; 4) drive commute to somewhere else in Seattle and will be inconvenienced but not in a disastrous way. Then there are people in a 5th group who have crazy car commutes to somewhere north or east or depend on driving all over the place for their job. Those are the ones who are truly panicking…but the reality is that we can’t make decisions based on that one group of people. Especially since many of them won’t be living in West Seattle in 2-?? years whenever the new bridge or repaired bridge is done. 

  • West Seattle Bridge Now April 30, 2020 (9:52 pm)

    This is great news! We couldn’t be happier to hear of this kind of progress. We can all rest a little easier tonight. Thank you SDOT! 

  • John Smith April 30, 2020 (10:06 pm)

    The term “shoring” excited my imagination at first. Now I think it refers to gigantic clamps that will squeeze the bridge beams/girders/whatever, not some sort of scaffolding that rises vertically from the bedrock beneath the mud of the Duwamish Waterway. Also, I am now wondering if what was called a “gantry crane” during the construction of the elevated sections of our first phase of light rail could be used for repair/demolition of the  West Seattle Bridge. A similar apparatus was used during the construction of the elevated portion(s?) of I-90 in Snoqualmie Pass circa 1978 to limit the ground disturbed to a relatively small radius around each supporting column.

  • Mj April 30, 2020 (10:07 pm)

    I’m a homeowner with a wood fence and a couple of my posts have started to rot, the fence itself is in good shape, aka the structures to the west and east. 

    Now the City has retained a firm to shore up the fence a needed first step.  Now I want to now if I can stabilize the fence by adding structural support, but I need to encroach in my neighbors yard, aka the Coast Guard, to ask permission to refine clearance height and lateral width of the channel to facilitate adding structural support columns to the week spots of the span across the channel. 

    With permission from my neighbor, bring them some cookies, I may be able to fix the fence much more cost effectively than having to remove it and install new posts. And way more quickly!

  • Mj April 30, 2020 (10:41 pm)

    And with 36 years of navigation ascertaining the size and height of barges, ships and boats navigating the channel can be determined.  I believe our neighbor, aka the Coast Guard, should be able to allow us to encroach in their yard to prop up the fence post since its not being used to the fence line anyway.  In the rare instance a highly loaded barge were to arrive there is a nearby  facility called T5 that can refine the load accordingly.

    • Rumbles May 1, 2020 (9:11 am)

      Softening up the Coast Guard with cookies?  Rotten fences and huge bridges… your yard and a government controlled waterway.  Yeah.. seems about the same. 

  • Curate April 30, 2020 (10:48 pm)

    Yes, this was a really well done press release. Enjoyed reading it.

  • John Smith May 1, 2020 (2:50 am)

    As an architect neighbor explained it to me once upon a time, concrete is strong in compression (for example, weight-bearing vertical loads) but weak in stretching (for example, bending). Steel rebar in concrete is used to provide resistance to bending/stretching/sideways loads. So I expect that since the bridge beams/girders/whatever have cracked / are cracking from unintended/undesigned sideways loads, the wrapping that has been mentioned as a possible repair (presumably along with clamps) would squeeze the beams/girders/whatever together in order to prevent the concrete from slowly cracking/exploding to such a degree that the post-tensioning cables and the surrounding concrete and rebar fail to hold together as a cohesive unit. The cables might still dangle, but the concrete would break up into chunks and fall, resulting in sudden, catastrophic failure of the bridge.

    • Michael M McCormick May 2, 2020 (8:34 am)

      John, as an engineer, I appreciate your efforts to inject actual information and understanding to the discussion. A slight correction: the description of concrete’s blessings and failings are: strong in compression, weak in tension. “Pure bending” is a combination of tension and compression with tension on the “bottom” side of the beam aka in the direction of bending and compression on the “upper” side. See diagram.

  • CJ May 1, 2020 (6:39 am)

    It’s excellent news that SDOT was able to find a contractor that has bridge experience, highway experience, existing partnerships with SDOT and the consultant firm  is responsive and local. This is a smart choice that can save months on the process.  Well done, SDOT!

  • Vul May 1, 2020 (6:45 am)

    I feel like West Seattle needs its own tunnel.

  • Sarah May 1, 2020 (8:43 am)

    Progress?   Oh yeah they  found a contractor.   Geniuses.  But it’s my problem how am I going to get to the East side to work, so I can pay my mortgage and  the 700 a month property taxes, that I have no idea where they’re going, since the basic roads to and from the peninsula are not being maintained.Oh dude, they found a contractor, give them a medal of honor.   Such low expectation on THEM, crazy taxes on us, let the incompetence continue in force.  Just rob the property owners.

    • Stevie J May 1, 2020 (1:47 pm)

      You can take the 1st Ave S. bridge to get to the Eastside with your car if you have one. 

      Regarding where your taxes go, assuming you have internet access it is very easy to learn about literally anything. 

      Enter your parcel number here: 

      https://payment.kingcounty.gov/Home/Index?app=PropertyTaxes&Search=3224049012 (random commercial property parcel ID included to see an example),

      then click on “2020 Tax / Fee Distribution” and “2020 Tax / Fee Distribution Chart”. This will show you what percentage of your property tax goes to the city. In this example, 18.2% of the taxes go to the City of Seattle.Then, to see a very cool interactive view of the city’s budget, go here: 

      https://openbudget.seattle.gov/#!/year/2019/operating/0/service

      If you click on, for example, “Utilities & Transportation” on the first chart at the above link, it will break it down into “City Light, Public Utilities, Transportation, Seattle Streetcar” – so click on the “Transportation” bar, and this will break down the Transportation budget. Then click on “Bridges & Structures,” then “Structures Maintenance” to see that $7.3 million is budgeted for the entire city per year for bridge maintenance.

      This is out of a total city budget of $6.02 billion, so that ends up as 0.00121% of the city’s budget is spent on bridge maintenance. In my case, 22.3% of my property tax goes to the city, so assuming you have a similar situation, based on your numbers, $1873.2 of your taxes go to the city, which brings your bridge maintenance contribution to $2.26/year. So if you want more money to go to bride maintenance, I would suggest emailing the council and asking for a tax increase. 

  • McFail May 1, 2020 (8:53 am)

    Usually “competitive bidding” is lowest bigger plus quals; I’m curious what the ultimate cost will be for this band-aid…

  • Beth Phillips May 1, 2020 (9:06 am)

    I don’t get any sense of SDOT providing a realistic detour for residents in the meantime.  The Marginal Way/ 1st ave bridge is a terrible, time consuming and crowded route. Took half an hour to get to I5 from Admiral and that was with  the reduced covid traffic.   In addition to the repair/replacing issue, there needs to be significant steps taken for creating a viable detour, and that should be done NOW. We can’t be doing this for  years. 

    • tsurly May 1, 2020 (10:59 am)

      What would qualify as “realistic” detour in your mind? The reality is, which SDOT has clearly communicated, that it is physically impossible for any detour to  accommodate the traffic volumes that the high bridge did. The only realistic solutions are to change your habits by one or several of the following 1) Drive less or alter the hours that you drive; 2)Take transit, walk, or ride a bike; 3) move out of West Seattle. I’m sincerely not trying to be rude, this is just the reality that we currently and will continue to live in for years.

      • Beth Phillips May 1, 2020 (11:57 am)

        It’s unacceptable to say “driving less is the solution”. You don’t know people’s situations. Its super unrealistic for most people to just stop driving. To go from thousands of cars a day to zero means they’ve known for a long time the bridge was failing and they should have had a plan for residents.  They can take more time getting the bridge fixed correctly if they can provide better detours.

        • Tsurly May 2, 2020 (4:20 am)

          Driving less is only unacceptable in the minds of those who refuse to face reality. I also forgot option 4: swim

    • sw May 1, 2020 (11:21 am)

      Seriously?  I am very curious to know where you think a “realistic detour” can be implemented.  

    • Rumbles May 1, 2020 (11:37 am)

      @Beth Phillips Actually, Beth, yes you can be doing “this” for years.  

    • Jon Wright May 1, 2020 (9:18 pm)

      Head north on Harbor. Where Harbor turns into Alki, take a right. Downtown will be straight ahead, you can’t miss it.

  • Ann May 1, 2020 (9:47 am)

    This is the good news I wanted to hear.  

  • Katrina May 1, 2020 (10:07 am)

    Wish there was some way to restrict opening of the 1st Ave S bridge during rush hours. I know Coast Guard gets priority for their marine traffic, and tides are important etc etc but can’t there be some sort of exception given the situation? Really? 

    • Rumbles May 1, 2020 (6:13 pm)

      I believe this has been discussed and some of the users of the waterway were asked to limit the need for openings during rush hour.  However, that is just a courtsey.  They can request an opening any time they want.  

  • Mj May 1, 2020 (12:36 pm)

    Rumbles – you missed the point of my analogy.  The point is if the Coast Guard allowed revision to the clearance standard the option of propping up the existing structure at its weak points becomes an option to investigate, and presuming is feasible could be done in a much more timely manner, and I suspect would be more cost effective.

  • West Seattle Lurker May 1, 2020 (4:13 pm)

    It’s great they picked a contractor for the stabilization. It doesn’t seem like West Seattle has a large enough of a population for this to be prioritized by the city of Seattle. I think a similar funding situation would occur if the Magnolia Bridge were declared unfit. The people of Magnolia would be aghast but everyone else would go about their daily routine. Most of the people I talk with in the area have been unaware the bridge even is broken. 

  • Mj May 1, 2020 (10:00 pm)

    West Seattle Lurker – really the population of WS is 100,000 the City has prioritized spending for far fewer residents for years.  It’s time the City prioritize fixing and maintaining infrastructure.

  • Mark May 15, 2020 (7:58 am)

    The idea of choosing a contractor and talking about things that might be done is Not a milestone in my opinion  actually doing work on it and achieving results physically with a significant portion completed is a milestone quit taking victory laps for nothing tangible.get it together SDOT or you’ll be picking up the county tab for the loss of revenue when I argue my county property tax assessed valuein June due to my loss of reasonable access to my property I’ll be helping other WS landowners with this and hopefully a tsunami wave of other landowners in WS do the same at that point I’m sure the county might have something to say to SDOT and the city? Maybe real world physical milestones will happen when the carrot gets put away and the stick comes out to play

    • WSB May 15, 2020 (9:31 am)

      Guess I really need to write that story about how property assessments work. The bill you are paying this year was based on how your property was assessed on 1/1/19. IF the bridge affects property values, the first possible affected tax bills are in 2022. – TR

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