tunnel vision
Speaking of transit, there’s something incredibly strange about the bus tunnel closure that is so obvious that I didn’t even think to be confused by it. Metro riders who have caught one of the underground busses may have glanced across the tunnel while waiting for their ride to arrive. In such distracted time killing gazes, it seems unlikely that anyone missed the small fact that the bus tunnel already has rails running through it.
Yes, the tunnel is now closed for two years to add capacity for the new light rail project. If that completely blew your mind, you might be interested in reading the Seattle Times report on the hows and whys of the cost-cutting forward-looking engineering that resulted in a need to shut town the tunnel. [seattletimes]
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I love my city, but it drives me crazy sometimes. :/
I worked downtown, for the City of Seattle when the bus tunnel was first going in. I realize not everyone was around then (gawds, I’m old!) but I remember this thing with the rails. We *already knew* those rails weren’t going to be good enough when they were put in. A search through the newspaper archives will show the stories reporting that the rails were going in without insulation.