3 ms·

The steel casing was in the survey provided to the contractor as part of the contract documents. http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2022757238_berthapipexm

The steel casing was in the survey provided to the contractor as part of the contract documents. http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2022757238_berthapipexml.html http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2022757238_berthapipe...

hga 12y ago
The contractor and others assumed the casing had been removed. We all know about assumptions, but this shouldn't be entirely blamed on the contractor, especially since WSDOT is ultimately responsible for the project. There's clearly a serious if not fatal problem with leadership of the whole project, which as I noted has very bad incentives that are aligned with allowing problems. In this case, there should have been someone obsessing on the path of the tunnel. And then the boring crew, its supervisors etc. should not have, after hitting the casing (which cased the top part to jump many feet into the air), blithely continued boring until the machine failed hard (that could have turned something relatively fixable into the disaster they have now). I'm unimpressed.
barsonme 12y ago
WSDOT is so incompetent. It's absolutely infuriating, and definitely not helping the political divide between eastern and western Washington. The very urban portions of the coastal areas pay most of the taxes, while the rest of the rural parts pay a much smaller portion. Unfortunately, the rural parts (basically anything not directly within x miles of the coast) see this as a massive waste for something that won't benefit them. The implications of this are far-reaching and incredibly polarizing for our state. Not good.
- RyJones 12y ago
  further evidence of WSDOT incompetence is the cracking pontoon issue(s) on the 520 replacement span. For this sin, commuters will pay tolls on I90.
  - genwin 12y ago
    And likely forevermore too. $10 to cross the lake round trip, increasing faster than inflation.
  - catherton 12y ago
    Don't forget about the sinking of the I-90 floating bridge! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7XOaXK_kDc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7XOaXK_kDc ...and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge

hga 12y ago

The contractor and others assumed the casing had been removed. We all know about assumptions, but this shouldn't be entirely blamed on the contractor, especially since WSDOT is ultimately responsible for the project. There's clearly a serious if not fatal problem with leadership of the whole project, which as I noted has very bad incentives that are aligned with allowing problems. In this case, there should have been someone obsessing on the path of the tunnel. And then the boring crew, its supervisors etc. should not have, after hitting the casing (which cased the top part to jump many feet into the air), blithely continued boring until the machine failed hard (that could have turned something relatively fixable into the disaster they have now). I'm unimpressed.

barsonme 12y ago

WSDOT is so incompetent. It's absolutely infuriating, and definitely not helping the political divide between eastern and western Washington. The very urban portions of the coastal areas pay most of the taxes, while the rest of the rural parts pay a much smaller portion. Unfortunately, the rural parts (basically anything not directly within x miles of the coast) see this as a massive waste for something that won't benefit them. The implications of this are far-reaching and incredibly polarizing for our state. Not good.

RyJones 12y ago
further evidence of WSDOT incompetence is the cracking pontoon issue(s) on the 520 replacement span. For this sin, commuters will pay tolls on I90.
- genwin 12y ago
  And likely forevermore too. $10 to cross the lake round trip, increasing faster than inflation.
- catherton 12y ago
  Don't forget about the sinking of the I-90 floating bridge! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7XOaXK_kDc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7XOaXK_kDc ...and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge