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September 19, 2005
Great Idea: Just Tear Down the Viaduct!
This is the best transportation initiative I've seen out of Seattle in a long time! Better than Sound Transit, better than the Monorail, better than the "well, we can't do anything about it" attitude regional leaders have regarding I-5 through downtown!
If the state and city can't come up with enough money to rebuild the viaduct, they may just tear it down! Not rebuild it, just tear it down. They figure it'll come down anyway, so we might as well do it before it ends up killing someone.
Genius! Rebuilding the viaduct would cost $3 billion... keep in mind that doesn't mean any traffic improvements, but rather just rebuilding a new structure to replace the old. For an extra billion we can get a nice tunnel that won't kill us during an earthquake, and looks a lot nicer too. For some reason conservatives tend to be against this idea... I don't understand why given Washington's track record with bridges and the like.
I know transportation planning in the Puget Sound area is historically short-sighted, but this is just the dumbest idea I've ever heard of. Let's just tear the thing down. Come to think of it, let's tear down I-5 too. I mean, why even bother anymore? It's obvious our leaders don't care.
UPDATE: I've included Timmy's comments over at the message boards... no registration needed there or anything. Very interesting stuff.
Posted by March at September 19, 2005 11:04 AM
Comments
So Katrina has Washington considering the various moral issues attached to our Alaskan Way Viaduct - possibly one of the most dangerously unstable pieces of road in the country. Seriously, not a year has gone by in over a decade where I haven't heard SOMETHING about "the problems with the viaduct".
There was an article linked to yours today that elaborated:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002504687_viaductmorality19m.html
As a matter of moral issues, it brings up my age-old favorite ethical dilemma: affirmative duties.
That's basically what this boils down to - does the State, do the people, do the riders of Alaskan Way have an affirmative duty to prevent the potential (but not necessarily certain) damage that would be caused by the collapse of this highway? And we're talking massive damage - life taking, economy crippling, transit destroying damage.
Since I was 16, I've probably rode/driven the Alaskan Way Viaduct... maybe 75-100 times. Should I be responsible for shouldering repair costs? Should I even give a damn? Do I have any moral duties here?
Replace the Viaduct with New Orleans and add some 20/20 hindsight, and it seems like a lot of people would say yes. But looking at it objectively, rather though the emotionally-clouding lenses of human and economic tragedy, is that really the case?
Thoughts?
Posted by: Tim at September 19, 2005 03:43 PM