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Aurora Avenue North began in the 1880s as a wagon road, ultimately becoming a direct route to and from Everett.
For an overview of Stritmatter Kessler Koehler Moore coverage of other Highway Design issues, go to www.keithkesslerlaw.com and www.stritmatter.com.
One would excuse Sam Zimbabwe for the current bridge mess that he’s inherited from the failings of past SDOT Directors Hahn, Sparrman, Kubly and Laird, except that he accepts and echoes the mantra of failure: “I don’t think we would do any of that any differently.” (“City of Seattle watched as cracks in the the West Seattle Bridge grew”, Mike Lindblom, The Seattle Times (12/6/20) p. A16).
Less than the new extended height = a draw bridge – the very traffic flow restriction that tall bridges are supposed to eliminate.
If there were ever a logical remedy for a free flow of intersecting car and ship traffic, it is the Ortblad immersed tube tunnel – the equivalent of a grade separation underpass.
With the closure of the West Seattle Bridge, our primary route to and from Seattle -- West Marginal Way SW – is already becoming heavily congested. This is during the Governor’s Stay at Home order -- before the impending release of the 110,000 vehicles that crossed the West Seattle Bridge each day.
Some dredging will be needed to accommodate the two 250-foot segments to retain the 30-foot depth for ship traffic. The tunnel segments can be built at adequate sites in Aberdeen (520 Bridge pontoons) and Tacoma.
The Pont du Gard (shown above) crosses the Gardon River in Southern France. It was built in 63 B.C. – over 2,000 years ago. The new West Seattle Bridge was completed in 1984 – 36 years ago – and it’s already broken.
2013 -- Grapeview Loop Road winds along a rural route toward an intersection with State Route 3, a busy highway in Mason County. As it approaches SR 3, the county road curves to the right, and becomes wide-mouthed at the intersection. This configuration essentially hides the Stop sign on the right in vegetation until a driver reaches a point only 84 feet back of the intersection.
1998 -- Interstate 90 meets State Route 18 at an unsignalized intersection, leaving cars turning left from SR 18 onto I-90 without a green arrow or any other traffic control device. Drivers turning left risk a collision with a through vehicle if a gap in oncoming traffic proves to be inadequate for slipping through.
Rarely, if ever, does the State admit that it was negligent in a dangerous highway design lawsuit. But in the case of then 15-year-old Skylar Seward who now suffers from quadriplegia, the State has done exactly that.
As the Supreme Court noted in Guillen, to construe § 409 to cover all facts and documents that ultimately end up in such federally mandated reports would go far beyond the congressional intent, and would hide otherwise discoverable information essential to supporting claims that could have been proven had there been no safety enhancement project:
Plaintiffs in Guillen and Whitmer brought suit against Pierce County for unsafe county roads. Dick Benedetti of Davies Pearson and I represented the Whitmer sisters whose VW Beetle was struck and knocked into a utility pole at an unsignalized intersection.
We were last talking about getting accident reports, so I’ll continue where I left off….
The Washington State Patrol has a statutory duty to collect and compile accident reports. WSP is a public agency. See RCW 42.56.010(1). The accident reports are public records.
Most practitioners have no idea of the difficulty accessing something as fundamental as accident reports for a given location in a highway accident case. This is true even when the accident history is essential to a proper and complete analysis.
Before its amendment in 2009, RCW 4.92.100 stated that “With respect to the content of such claims, this section shall be liberally construed so that substantial compliance will be deemed satisfactory.”
After a long hiatus, I’m back in the blogging saddle. Where I last left off was a preliminary discussion regarding Claim for Damages…
Admittedly, I’ve not had a chance to blog recently. However, I was reminded of my goal to write about claims against the government, when reading about a recent $20 million claim by a WA state inmate against the City of Tacoma for excessive force.
On days like today, I’m reminded of why the Pacific Northwest is a top tourist destination during the late spring and summer. Unlike 10 years ago, however, downtown Seattle remains lively through the evenings.
The law is clear in Washington State: Our street and highway departments have a “duty to provide reasonably safe roads and this duty includes the duty to safeguard against an inherently dangerous or misleading condition.”