Sound Transit officials updated Bellevue City Council members on the agency’s progress toward resolving problems related to the East Link light rail project during a council meeting on Monday. Among other issues, officials addressed outstanding engineering concerns associated with placing a light rail line on the Interstate 90 floating bridge.
The 2008 Independent Review Team (IRT) report on the project, which the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) commissioned, determined that light rail could run on the I-90 floating bridge if Sound Transit addressed 23 issues related to the impact of the proposed installation. Sound Transit officials assured Bellevue City Council members that they have closed 17 of the IRT issues with WSDOT, leaving six remaining.
Sound Transit must resolve six outstanding issues
Sound Transit officials broke the six remaining issues into two different categories, problems they expect to resolve in the short term and those they expect to resolve in the long term. The short-term issues include “Track Bridge” (refers to the rail bridge that would span over the major expansion joints at the ends of the floating bridge), “operation restrictions” (guidelines to when light rail would close given weather conditions, etc.) and “methods of identifying stray current.”
The long-term issues include establishing criteria to evaluate issues, modification of bridge inspection procedures and additional needs and changes required to meet Blue Ribbon Recommendations.
Councilmembers press Sound Transit for clear answers
It’s clear that all of these issues are important and must be resolved before a light rail line could be placed on the I-90 bridge. It is, after all, in Bellevue residents’ best interests that these issues are resolved before major construction begins on a light rail line that may be doomed.
And, that’s exactly the concerns Bellevue City Council members Kevin Wallace and Jennifer Robertson raised during the meeting. Councilmember Wallace asked what Sound Transit’s back-up plan is if these issues are not resolved in a timely manner. Given that the transit agency recently revealed it granted the contractor $20 million more to finish design work, less than a year before scheduled construction, it is hard to trust they are considering Bellevue’s interest first.
Wallace asked, “There should be a legitimate concern that [these issues] will not be resolved on schedule. What I am trying to figure out is if you don’t have them resolved, and you are here starting to tear-up downtown Bellevue… is there a point when you are going to start sliding the construction so you are not tearing up the city of Bellevue before you know you can cross the I-90 bridge? Or, are you going to keep on going and then we might have an “ah-ha” moment later when we find out it’s not plausible?”
A Sound Transit official assured Wallace that the agency is “highly confident” it can cross the bridge. He pointed to the technical issues that have been resolved thus far. In the end, however, Wallace got the answer to his question. Sound Transit does not have a back-up plan. If the “ah-ha” moment does ever happen, it’ll just happen.
Sound Transit reluctant to provide specific timeline
Councilmember Robertson reiterated Wallace’s concerns and pressed for a clear answer. She asked if Sound Transit intends to turn a shovel of dirt in Bellevue if there are any open issues concerning crossing the bridge. Robertson pointed out that construction in Bellevue is scheduled for February 2016 and asked for specifics as when the short and long-term issues would be resolved.
Robertson asked, “Do you anticipate all [the six remaining] issues will be resolved before you start digging in Bellevue in February 2016?”
A Sound Transit official admitted that they would not have the light rail design on I-90 completed before construction starts in Bellevue. He only assured Robertson that the transit agency would be “on a path towards 100% completion” and would keep the council “apprised of progress.”
When Robertson reiterated her request for a specific timeline concerning the six remaining issues, the Sound Transit official said he expects the short-term issues to be solved before February 2016. He did not offer a specific timeline for the long-term issues other than that they would be resolved prior to the construction on I-90 in 2017.
It appears that Sound Transit is more than willing to—once again—gamble with taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars.
Just sick… Why do these people even have these jobs if they are that incompetent??