Sick Bridges…and No Doctor on Duty

Watching the cancer grow.

Recording the symptoms. Observing the spread of cracks, fissures and failing support.

Noting it.

But…address it? Even report it?

And so it spreads.

And those who could act take no notice. They’ve been given no notice.

So the weakened limbs falter and fail.

What’s more important than a bridge that’s critical to transporting 120,000 commuters a day?

A First Avenue Trolley?

A new streetcar system that is virtually riderless, installed with wheel slots along bicycle routes that entrap bicycle tires and result in buses running over cyclists?

One would excuse Sam Zimbabwe for the current bridge mess that he’s inherited from the failings of past SDOT Directors Hahn, Sparrman, Kubly and Laird, except that he accepts and echoes the mantra of failure: “I don’t think we would do any of that any differently.” (“City of Seattle watched as cracks in the the West Seattle Bridge grew”, Mike Lindblom, The Seattle Times (12/6/20) p. A16).

And as they stand and watch, the cost of addressing the needs of the First Avenue South Bridge – currently the route to town for the thousands of displaced West Seattle Bridge commuters – rises from $4 million to $254 million (“As costs soar, Seattle scales back quake work on bridges”, Heidi Groover, The Seattle Times (12/21/20) p. A1).

Transportation Secretary Buttigieg – Here’s a real opportunity to invest New Deal WPA dollars into badly needed infrastructure projects that can save lives, restore driver mental health, and put people to work rebuilding our fast-failing bridges.

For an overview of Stritmatter Kessler Koehler Moore coverage of other Highway Design issues, go to www.keithkesslerlaw.com and www.stritmatter.com.