Oh hey, it’s super on-brand* if I talk about highways for 2 open threads this week. But here we are:
Are you planning anything different for when the Viaduct is closed? Going to telecommute? Going to tough it out? Live in the Tri-Cities and just going to laugh at us Wet Siders? Using this as an opportunity to start biking or walking to work? Going to take I-5 and hope for the best? Going to plan for some more time, and just make it happen? Unemployed? Taking the Light Rail? Working odd hours?
* Also, on-brand: Me referring to something I do as “on-brand.” I’m in Hell, aren’t I? My personal on-branded Hell of my own creation?
Continuing a pattern
http://horsesass.org/open-thre.....nt-1312822
of behavior, Donald Trump incites violence in southern California:
Protesters clash with cops at California Trump rally: Hundreds of Mexican flag-waving demonstrators smash up a squad car, punch a Donald supporter and scuffle with riot police amid angry scenes
At least one police car was smashed up as hundreds of demonstrators – many of them waving Mexican flags – took to the streets outside the Pacific Amphitheater in Costa Mesa, Orange County where Trump was speaking.
The protesters flooded the street outside the amphitheater with some stomping on cars, hurling rocks at motorists and forcefully declaring their opposition to Trump – bringing traffic to a halt and creating a tense standoff with authorities.
One Trump supporter was pictured with a bloody face after clashing with the anti-Trump activists, many of whom appeared to be young Hispanic people.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....z47Eag8Xhx
This is what democracy looks like. Wonder what it will look like there on May First.
Remember, the term “Trump 2016” chalked onto a stair makes people feel unsafe.
https://twitter.com/JimDalrympleII/status/725906661055975429
“It doesn’t take much to incite these folks and get ’em going.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtKpIKlVXXY
“Unbelievable.”
If you look really carefully, while that police car is being smashed and stomped on, you can see Jesse Hagopian walking by in front of it, cell phone attached to his face, oblivious of what’s going on around him.
Goldy @GoldyHA
My Motto: “Reading @SeaTimesOpinion so you don’t have to.” https://twitter.com/workingwa/status/725846672220114944 …
So, what happened to “Half the story. All of the time.”?
“This is what democracy looks like.”
“If you look really carefully”
So lame. Of course, your party is disintegrating as your hopes for another tax cut are evaporating, so what else is there but to post lame comments.
I don’t know Seattle at all. I’ve always wanted to visit but haven’t yet. But trying to understand your highway problems that you guys always seem to have issues with as a topic….but why is this viaduct closure such a big issue. Just looking at a map it looks like isn’t much of a big deal to do without it. I didn’t research the volume of vehicle usage, but it doesn’t seem like a big deal.
@5 It goes through downtown. All that traffic will be on already crowded surface streets. That’s why we’re building the most expensive gawdamn tunnel in the world. Or, at least, one of the reasons, anyway.
Read headline that Rubio or Trump is warming up to the other. And on Inauguaration Day they’ll compare cocks and have a sword fight.
@6 well think of the jobs it will create. I don’t know about the all the alternatives or true need but as cities and towns grow you need to expand infrastructure. The difference today that often gets overlooked is that it’s isn’t always as easy to build or expand in a heavily developed area as cheaply as back 50 or 60 years ago when there was less development and more space.
City of Hartford (CT) is faced with a similar situation with the I-84 viaduct that splits the city in half. In that situation the old highway is elevated for a mile or so portion and maintaining it is very costly so they have to rebuild something better in its place.
This country could use a new investment in roadways. You can’t keep breeding like rabbits (no offense Roger) and expect to keep things the way that they are.
The only cheaper alternative is to build something in a cornfield in Kansas and everyone move to Kansas. But then you would have the same problem after 50-60 years.
Back 50-60 years ago the number of cars and vehicles per household is much different today, so even if the population of an area decreases the amount of cars using a particular roadway still increases. Yes if everyone starts to ride bikes or uses mass transit. Maybe Carl can get a two seat bicycle and car pool with someone else, that would help too.
@5 And also, you should take a couple weeks off and visit Seattle. It’s the most beautiful place in the U.S. and there are a lot of great things to do and sights to see. I’ve lived here almost thirty years and I still can’t believe my eyes.
“All that traffic will be on already crowded surface streets.”
And I-5 is mess.
“That’s why we’re building the most expensive gawdamn tunnel in the world.”
I preferred the lidded trench. Better yet, integrated with the seawall project, a twofer.
“Jesse Hagopian”
Bob occasionally likes to remind us about how truly disappointed he was that SCC teacher Jesse Hagopian was merely pepper-spayed by a cop for walking while talking on his phone while black instead of being shot dead.
Bob also likes to tell us yet again that he just can’t understand for the life of him why Latino protesters are very angry at Trump.
“I’ve lived here almost thirty years and I still can’t believe my eyes.”
I hope you’ve had a chance to visit the San Juan Islands.
Huh! Judging by the photo, Trump’s hands look to be twice as big as Rubio’s.
“Marco Rubio appears to be warming up to Donald Trump, saying Friday his “performance has improved significantly.” Rubio has also continued to withold an endorsement of Ted Cruz, even though he previously praised him as the conservative in the race.”
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/.....mp/2275308
6 & 8,
I-5 should have been designed to go around Tacoma and Seattle instead of through the middle of both.
Hindsight is 20/20.
Thanks, Obama!
Yes. Thanks Obama!
@9 when is the best time, weather wise, to visit?
And what areas do Puffy and Boob hang out, so I can be sure to avoid those areas.
Rape is now legal in Oklahoma if the subject is too intoxicated to say No.
The “Conservative” (really, anarchist right wing) element in this country believe in killing and violence. Nothing more, nothing less
If they cannot be violent, or use violence to get what they want, they use violence anyway to prove that they should be allowed to just as violent as they damn well please.
After all, violence is God’s Plan For America. It’s what gits’er dunn.
What I’ve been sayin’ …
http://www.theatlantic.com/tec.....ly/480444/
Roger Rabbit Commentary: You stupid humans are living on borrowed time, because you’re your own worst enemy. When you’re done, we rabbits are gonna own this place.
@14 not sure if I-5 is a newly built road but if it is not. If it was built or planned 50-70 years ago then the city center probably would just be shifted from where it presently is closer to where “around Tacoma and Seattle” is now. And the same problem would exist.
I think if you were to take a look at most highways built and planned 50-70 years ago you will find that they all go through the city centers. Most of the highways came first and the city centers were built near and around the highway. Yes part of it is poor planning but also some of it is just the area growing because of the road that was built.
You’ll find that most of the highways that fo go around a city center are newer roadways.
Yep, no racism here.
You TeaBagzies sure can pickem.
I think I have some good news just in time for peak hate.
Quite accidentally stumbled across a script management Chrome analog for Greasemonkey on GitHub called Tampermonkey.
https://github.com/Tampermonkey/tampermonkey
Gonna test it tomorrow night during the peak hate buildup to salt mining. I’ll report results in the Bible Study. If this works we can extend Dr. Orpheus’ script to Chrome users.
Fingers crossed.
@9,
after the 4th of July through mid September to ensure good weather.
@9,
Also, since DOT hasn’t bothered to coordinate with the Seattle yacht club, avoid this Sunday through the following Saturday when hundreds of enormously wealthy tone-deaf boat owners force multiple bridge openings at the same time the Viaduct is closed.
Sharp writing here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....patterson/
Sample:
@1 What goes around, comes around.
@5 Seattle is a strip city sandwiched between Puget Sound on the west and 20-mile-long Lake Washington on the east. Most traffic is north-south, and there are only two corridors. I-5 carries 2/3 of the traffic and Highway 99 carries 1/3; the viaduct carries Hwy. 99 through the downtown bottleneck, and when it’s shut down, Seattle loses a third of its thru-traffic capacity and the I-5 corridor, always congested, jams up even worse. In a city that’s already one of the country’s most congested, the loss of this capacity makes an unpleasant commute unbearable. Visualize a 10-mile-long parking lot. And there aren’t alternatives because the buses are already standing-room only and don’t have spare capacity.
@25 “The most shattering is the fear and loathing between Trump’s blue-collar base and the wealthy donors and ideological conservatives who have labeled them electoral lowlife.”
How very interesting that (1) blue collars flocked to the GOP, beginning with Nixon, because they hated the hippies and protesters, (2) the GOP devoted the next 50 years to stripping the blue collars of their jobs, pensions, and health care, and (3) the angry and frustrated blue collars are now flocking to a rapacious Republican billionaire. What’s wrong with this picture?
After spending a lifetime busting my rabbit ass to elect politicians who support the working man and woman, only to see the people I’m trying to help vote for the party that’s screwing them, I’ve thrown up my paws in frustration. The Great Mother Rabbit Spirit helps those who help themselves, and these folks are beyond help.
“when is the best time, weather wise, to visit?”
I prefer the fall, when all the tourists and the loon are gone. Being in the sunbelt, odds are you’ll have good weather. My favorite place to stay is Beach Haven Resort on Orcas Island, just old log cabins on the beach set among one of the few remaining stands of old growth forests on the island. But you can find more upscale places on the islands to stay if that’s your preference.
“I-5 should have been designed to go around Tacoma and Seattle instead of through the middle of both.”
I’m just glad they didn’t build the R.H. Thompson Expressway.
http://www.pugetsoundtransport.....homson.php
The “ramps to nowhere” at the west end of the 520 bridge, constructed in anticipation of connecting to the expressway, were finally demolished a few years ago.
“I think I have some good news just in time for peak hate.”
That could be very good news. Chrome, though no longer supported, still works on my old XP machine. Maybe I can finally ban that batshit crazy loon. No more mindless hate.
Indeed, thank you, Obama! It wasn’t easy with all the Republican obstructionists, but under your leadership, the nation is back on it’s feet again. And in spite of all the race-hate directed at you, you led our nation with grace and dignity.
@17 Summer. We have the most glorious summers. Warm days, cool nights. The night air smells like the Salish sea and flowers. The beaches are all around us. Lake Washington has boat races. The fish are jumping. The cafes are all set up outside. The mountains glow with the last caps of snow. The rivers dance with fresh, sweet water. Our campgrounds are so beautiful. Heaven on earth.
@5 Your in New York and probably know who or what a sand hog is. They do not have a clue as to who or what a sand hog is.
Unlike New York we have these things called hills and mountains and that affects the traffic pattern in Seattle. There is a major east west highway going into Seattle and a major north south freeway. Lots of water that can interrupt the traffic flow. Sure you got those issues in the five boroughs, It’s possible for people going up and down the East Coast to completely avoid the big apple. Anyone going north and south on the west coast simply cannot easily without going on a serveral hundred mile detour avoid Seattle. This is true of most west coast cities but Seatte can be a blockage point. An we don’t have the train system that exists on the east coast through the corridor. So we are clueless over why a train strike is a big deal. We barely notice am trak. Just wait for the big earthquake and visit then and you will be seeing a major disaster area with most of it’s transportation system suddenly non existent. We will have to go back to how they traveled in the 1860-s up and down the coast…by boat.
@19 Most species are living on borrowed time. Most go extinct. Very few are as successful and as ancient as sharks and crocodiles. You are fluffy an delicious to both of these successful species who have clear advantages over rabbits. OF course the most successful and most abundant is bacteria. Actually rabbits and humans are just bacteria’s ultimate solution to their transportation needs.
@14 That was not feasible and part of the goals of the interstate system that was intended to link major population centers. Not to mention major military installations that Tacoma and Seattle at least in 1950’s.
There was some discussion of adopting the English system where the freeways don’t cut though the city and begin and end on the outskirts, but we adopted the German autobahn system with the freeway connecting the downtown. Though the Germans also generally avoided cutting their cities in two for a freeway.
@33 Our volcanoes sleep, but will awaken to challenge the destruction of Mt. Mordor. We await massive tsunamis. We only have salmon to eat. Radioactive debris from Japan. Cold wet summers It’s a horrible just ask Lewis and Clark. They high tailed it from the coast as soon as they could only to be stuck by snow in the Serra’s Go and visit Colorado or Wyoming. Tell your friends the Puget Sound and Salish Sea are horrible places. You won’t like it here.Move along nothing to see here.