The opponents litigate, WSDOT constructs
A new condo owner in Lakeshore was heard to complain recently about the fact that almost as soon as he moved into his place a giant barge crane pulled up and moored itself right in the middle of what had previously been a pristine view of the Lake. He’s reported to have exclaimed to a neighbor, “Am I going to have to deal with this for years?” Probably so.
That barge crane, very evident to anyone driving towards the Lake on Madison Street, is part of the opening phase of what’s expected to be a three-year timetable for construction of the new SR-520 floating bridge.
That’s unless the opponents get their way, which is to stop the project at least until it can be designed to meet their objections. They go to court tomorrow morning, arguing that a less-invasive four-lane replacement highway across the Lake would be sufficient, given the bridge tolls currently in place. The federal court hearing in Seattle, which begins at 10:00 a.m., will deal with the legal issues raised in the various briefs submitted by the Coalition for a Sustainable 520 and the respondents, the Washington State Department of Transportation and the feds. Information about the hearing, including copies of the briefs, is available on the Coalition's website.
Meanwhile, WSDOT's contractors, Kiewit/General/Manson (a joint venture), continue to work away on the Lake, though delivery of the first new pontoons from Aberdeen has been delayed because cracks were discovered in the first batch. Although initial reports indicated that the problem had been fixed and WSDOT posted a video explaining the problem and the fix (available here), that particular solution apparently didn't entirely do the job. New cracks occurred. A review panel is supposed to figure out what to do and report back to WSDOT by today.
Medina is where the first pontoons will be positioned later this summer (late July at the earliest), to the west of the area where the Eastside landings are now being prepared:
Concrete for two of the 58 pontoon anchors has been poured and at least one gravity anchor installed. Gradually, the pontoons will advance toward our side of the lake, and the bridge will be constructed over them. We, of course, will have a front-row seat for all of this action.
[Lower photo courtesy of WSDOT.]
[Lower photo courtesy of WSDOT.]
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