This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.
Mike Seely cautions that the Gregoire speech I linked to earlier is evidence that we’re not “close to coming to consensus” on the Viaduct.
I think Seely might be reading too much into the Governor’s statement. If you look at the previously-announced timeline from May, you’ll see that the plan was to close the Battery Street Tunnel intermittently between 2008 and 2010, and then replace the South section of the Viaduct (Holgate to King) between 2009 and 2012.
In other words, 2012 is the perfect time to start ripping out the Northern (remaining) section Viaduct, because that’s when the beefed-up connections between SODO and I-5 will appear.
Gregoire used some attention-grabbing words, but everything in the article — including her other quotes — seems to indicate that discussions between her, Sims, and Nickels have been productive. It seems more likely that she simply wants people to know that she has a plan, that she’s on top of the situation, as we enter an election year.