Orphan Road

Looks like the plan to save money by building smaller, light-rail-incompatible pontoons for the new 520 bridge has been scrapped. Instead, we're goign to save money by building the pontoons now, before the design for the rest of the bridge is complete:

Gov. Chris Gregoire last month commended WSDOT's Early Pontoon Construction Project, part of a $4 billion fiscal plan for the bridge, citing emergency preparedness, and an estimated $400 million savings from reduced pontoon size and lower inflation-related construction costs.

The plan calls for completion of the pontoons by 2013. A bridge replacement is not expected before 2018.

Engineers are designing pontoons as long as 360 feet -- the length of a football field -- and strong enough to support a state-mandated, six-lane freeway -- two general-purpose and one HOV lanes each way -- with potential capacity for future light rail.

Sounds good to me. Not unlike the Viaduct solution: agree on what we agree on, and kick the can down the road on the rest.