Orphan Road

It's almost here. What a project:

To create the level plateau on which to build the runway, the port brought in 13 million cubic yards of fill and relocated three million cubic yards of soil already on the site.

To hold that fill in place, the airport construction team created three huge retaining walls, the largest of which is 1,430 feet long and some 130 feet tall.

The gravel and the soil used to create that plateau had to pass forensic inspections to ensure it was clear of contaminants and similar in composition to the rocks and soil already at the site.

“We had to find gravel that originated in the same place in Canada and that was transported here by the glaciers as the gravel that was here on the site,” said King.

The reasoning behind such a requirement is that water that leached through the fill would pick up minute traces of the minerals in the fill, drain into the creeks and confuse or damage native salmon returning to those creeks.

The article also lists some pretty innovative improvements going on at the airport besides the 3rd runway, including a bird detection radar, the rental car terminal, and a new system that will pipe the terminal's air conditioning to the planes waiting at the gate, so they don't have to run their engines while they board.

in an open letter to the community, Port of Seattle CEO Tay Yoshitani is adamant that the Port hadn't actually wasted $97M. Here's an excerpt:

First, I want to clarify one of the biggest concerns raised in this audit – wasted money. The Port did not waste $97.2 million in taxpayer money. Here’s where I’m coming from:

$60 million of that number relates to the Port hiring a national contractor, instead of hiring more Port staff, to manage the redevelopment of SeaTac’s terminals. This contractor has to date been paid $120 million over the past 10 years.

...

The auditor states that we wasted $32 million because the construction contract for a portion of the third runway exceeded our initial cost estimate by $32 million. Bids often vary from estimates – particularly when the construction market is booming, as it was at the time. People involved in construction – whether public or private agencies or homeowners contemplating a remodel – understand that even thoroughly researched cost estimates can change as the project nears. Ultimately, the market dictates the cost to build something.

But at the same time, despite Yoshitani's protestations of innocence, the Port is offering a slate of reforms in the wake of the audit. It's a fine line to walk, since Yoshitani is new and needs to get the respect of the staff -- staff that have been themselves implicated in the audit. And with the feds about to come to town, it's only going to get trickier.

I bet this isn't what Yoshitani had in mind when he took the gig!!

The Justice Department is opening an investigation into fraud at the Port of Seattle in the wake of the scathing audit from the State Auditor's Office.

While I've been out of town, I missed the brou-ha-ha with the Port of Seattle audit. Certainly the fact that the Port's employees refused to sign statements as to the veracity of the findings is troubling. And the fact that they stymied the auditor at every turn should likewise give us pause. It's the kind of behavior we've come to expect from the Bush Administration.

Once again, this is why creating a regional transportation authority is a bad idea. Such an agency would be like the Port on steroids. And then we'd have to elect George Mitchell as State Auditor.

King County has approved the deal to let the Port of Seattle buy the eastside rail corridor. The County's approval was important, since they were the ones who had the first rights to buy it.

While there's nothing final on Boeing Field, the memorandum does say that the Port and the County "shall develop a consultative process for considering major capital improvements at King County International Airport that would substantially affect the Airport’s regional impact."

The County's going to move to buy two segments of the trail, but I'm not clear on which segments those are. The P-I's (and the Times') description would seem to correspond roughly with segments A and D of the PSRC's study (above). But the memo istelf seems to imply that the "Southern Portion" (A+B) will be converted to a trail, while the "Northern Portion" (C+D) will be retained for freight use.

The Port and the County have until the end of the year to buy the Eastside rail line from BNSF. Apparently they're making good enough progress that Ron Sims has backed down on his ultimatum. Either that, or he's realized he's run out of cards.

The bottom line is that the Port wants to buy the corridor, and they have the money and the votes to do so. The point of contention among the commissioners is what to do with the tracks. But here's soemthing that should give everyone pause:

When the three-way agreement among the port, the county and BNSF Railway was made public Nov. 2, the deal's announcement included the stipulation that BNSF would remove the single track from a little-used section of line between Woodinville and Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park in Renton. That section would be leased to the county, which would lay the trail on top of the rail bed after BNSF had cleaned up any contaminated soil.

You can see why Sims doesn't want to keep the tracks in place. Having the County on the hook for any soil contamination would not be fun for anyone (assuming there is actually contamination). Better to let BNSF clean it up before the public takes ownership, even if that means taking out the tracks.

Finally, I think you have trust the transit agencies here. If they don't think there's the ridership to support transit, they're probably right, and it's going to be an uphill battle to do it without their support. There are just too many moving parts (literally!). Remember the last time some folks tried to do an end-run around the transit planners?

Update: Link fixed.

Ron Sims will take his ball and go home if the Port doesn't commit to ripping out the tracks. But it sounds like the port has the votes on the commission to buy it anyway, even if Sims won't lease it for a trail.

There's a lot of posturing going on here, and so it's hard to know what people's real motives are. The Port does not want the corridor for freight use. If it was a viable freight corridor, BNSF wouldn't be selling it. Remember, this whole thing got started because of King County Airport (Boeing Field). The Port's ultimate, ultimate goal is to keep King County from building a passenger terminal at Boeing Field and luring away Alaska and Southwest Airlines.

Earlier this month, I praised Sims for getting such a good deal out of the port, since he'd get to keep the airport and get cheap use of the corridor. Now it turns out that the deal may be too good to be true. Sims hasn't left himself many cards to play here, assuming the Port is willing to buy the right-of-way with or without him. His ace-in-the-hole is the airport. With the Port's decision expected soon, I expect we'll be hearing more about how Boeing Field fits into this in the next few weeks.

Photo of the Wilburton Trestle by Wikipedia user brianhe. Do you really want to jog or bike across that thing? Not me!

That seems to be the gist of the new deal between King County and the Port of Seattle on the Eastside rail corridor. The Port is going to buy the corridor from BNSF, same as before, but now King County doesn't have to trade its Airport. Instead, King County promises to "consult" with the Port before "any major developments" (read: building a passenger terminal for Southwest or Alaska Air).

So the Port basically laid out $103M just to hedge against the possibility that King County might someday want to put a second Airport in your backyard. It's sort of like buying Marvin Gardens because the other guy already has Atlantic and Ventnor Aves. and you're worried he's gonna build hotels.

It looks like, by holding out, King County got a better deal than it would have under the original Ron Sims-Mic Dinsmore swap, which called for the County to give up the Airport. Kudos to the King County council for making it happen. Now we get a trail with even more strict assurances that it will be usable for high-capacity transit in the future.

The Port wants to move the rental care parking:

To make room in the parking garage and to ease curbside congestion, the port has been designing a multistory rental car garage at International Boulevard and South 160th Street. Passengers would be shuttled to the airport on a 10- to 15-minute ride on buses running on compressed natural gas.

Alas, such a shuttle might "ensnar[e] travelers in SeaTac and Burien traffic during those precious preflight minutes."

Here's an idea: instead of building the garage at 160th and International Blvd, build it at 154th and International Blvd, right next to the giant Light Rail station.

Dogcaught has some interesting notes on the Port of Tacoma and Tacoma Rail, including the Port's efforts to become the second largest port in the U.S. See here for more on Tacoma's efforts to dethrone Seattle for the title of busiest port in the Northwest.