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September 17, 2005
NASCAR coming to Bremerton?
The Seattle Times is reporting that bringing NASCAR to Bremerton would bring in $140 million annually. (Why do we always fall for this stuff?!)
And how are we supposed to get there? The proposed track would seat about 81,500. The ferries certainly aren't going to meet that kind of capacity. The New Tacoma Narrows Bridge should be open by then, so you'll at least have two lanes each way plus an HOV lane. The HOV lane would be heavily used. But that's quite a trip, driving down to Tacoma and then back up.
One of Seattle's biggest problems is the inability to use the west side of the Sound to help alleviate growth. Our government wants you to think they're being proactive because they're going to rebuild a bridge and a viaduct. Keep in mind, they're not going to really add capacity... 520 will likely be two lanes each way plus HOV lanes... so basically it won't be muh better than it is now.
What would REALLY be proactive would be spanning Puget Sound with something other than ferries. I'd miss the ferries, and hey, keep them running... but provide at least one bridge and/or tunnel across the Sound, and give it actual capacity. It would be expensive, and probably nothing short of an engineering marvel, but I'd rather pay for a cross-sound bridge than Sound Transit or the Monorail. Why isn't anybody seriously proposing this?
Posted by March at September 17, 2005 07:52 PM