This project is a better alternative to the repair of the Alaska Way Viaduct or building a tunnel. This floating bridge project:- is much more cost effective for the taxpayers;
- eliminates most of the infrastructure and traffic problems the others would create during their construction;
- eliminates need for construction downtown;
- provides the highest traffic capacity of any submitted plan;
- reduces air pollution to the downtown area;
- limits the right of way procurement except from the Port of Seattle at the ends;
- acts as a breakwater for inner harbor which can double as a marina;
- is a more seismically sound solution than building on land in a seismic zone 3 and would help ensure a north-south coastal route after a major earthquake;
- will be designed to withstand a 30 foot tsunami wave;
- can be used to circumnavigate all hazardous traffic away from downtown Seattle so as to make the city more secure from a terrorist attack or accident;
- could be completed faster than alternative projects;
- And with inclusion of an esplanade along the entire inland side of the bridge (not currently in the plan) this project would provide an aesthetic and financial benefit to the city by allowing tourists and pedestrians to view Seattle from an excellent off shore perspective. This actually is an opportunity to add to the beauty of Seattle with possible floating gardens and restaurants connected to the walkway.
More on the project can be found at Elliot Bay Floating Bridge project
Elliot Bay Floating Bridge
P. O. Box 1454
Elma, Washington 98541-14541-360-482-4810 c/o Elma Theater
1-360-590-2054 cell 24/7
NEWS RELEASE
Dutton For Representative Campaign
827 Geissler Road, Montesano, WA 98563
Tel: 360-249-5833
website www.randydutton.com
randydutton@centurytel.net
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 26, 2008
ELLIOT BAY FLOATING BRIDGE PROPOSAL ENDORSED AS BEST ALTERNATIVE TO SEATTLE TUNNEL OR VIADUCT
Summary:
Randy Dutton, Republican Candidate for Washington State’s 24th Legislative District, Position 1, formally endorses the Elliot Bay Floating Bridge design first proposed by Kingsley Hall. The floating bridge project provides a more cost effective, higher throughput, and safer solution than the tunnel or other proposed surface routes. Such a design further can be shown to enhance the beauty of Seattle.
Montesano, WA (PRWEB) April 25, 2008 - Randy Dutton, a fiscal conservative Republican challenger to 24th District, Position 1, Representative Van De Wege, formally endorses the Elliot Bay Floating Bridge design first proposed by civil engineer Kingsley Hall. Mr Hall is a civil engineer, whose engineering firm worked on several freeway projects in the Seattle area in the 1960s. Kingsley now is retired and owns of the Elma Theater, but remains very active in promoting his vision of a sensible transportation alternative.
Dutton has reviewed the project with Hall and believes the design, similar to the 520 floating bridge already approved for construction, with components to be made in Grays Harbor, makes much more sense for the taxpayers of Washington State, and for the residents of Seattle. Dutton says “The floating bridge design further benefits the industrial, retail, and tourist sectors of the I-5 corridor economy by having virtually no impact on the current road infrastructure until the floating bridge nears completion. Current traffic already is difficult for movement of goods and people through Seattle, and future tunnel or surface road construction would greatly impact the logistical capabilities of business, their workforce, and would lessen tourism.” In reviewing the project, Dutton added an idea, “Why not include a decorative promenade to the sheltered water side of the floating bridge that allows tourists and locals to walk the full length of each section, while also allowing floating platforms to be attached that would serve as rest areas gardens, and observation points, and possibly even floating restaurants? This would add to the scenic beauty of Seattle by providing an offshore perspective of the Seattle skyline.” The actual visual impact of the highway from the shoreline would be slight.
Dutton, whose military career involved him as a financial analyst with military projects, points out several additional advantages to a floating bridge, “It builds for the future, it reduces hazardous material shipments through the city (particularly the more volatile ethanol fuel), it is more seismically sound, it is tsunami resistant, and it will signal to the commercial sector that their trucking concerns will be met. It even provides a breakwater to the waterfront, which allows for marinas. A design feature allows for periodic opening of the bridge for boat passage, but would require the ferry terminal to be relocated outside the bridge. The alternatives would tie Seattle up in knots for years and likely lose the area commercial and tourist business.”
The floating bridge cost is estimated at half that of a tunnel, and that doesn’t assume “Big Dig” cost overruns associated with tunneling, while providing for more volume. It even could be built in two stages, stage one with 5 lanes, the second would double the throughput to 10 lanes total.
“My interest, as a possible legislator on the Olympic Peninsula, is not only to help the state, and Seattle, as a whole, but to reduce a financial impact on my constituents for a project perceived as only benefiting the I-5 corridor. This is a project that has been proposed to nearly all legislators, but mostly has been ignored for over a year. That is why Mr. Hall had attempted in 2007 to get Initiative 964 onto the ballot, to force a consideration of this third option.” states Dutton.
Dutton has posted a synopsis and map of the Elliot Bay Floating Bridge project on his website www.randydutton.com, with a link to Mr. Hall’s more specific details. Mr. Hall can be reached directly at 360-590-2054.
Randy Dutton, a retired Navy Supply Corps Commander, is Vice President of FPM Inc, located in metro-Detroit, and can be reached at his Montesano area office 360-249-5833, or randydutton@centurytel.net.
