Remember that rock hampering the Madison Valley project we wrote about before the Thanksgiving week snowstorm made slush and ice the main underfoot worry? It’s still there — and it’s still has further tunneling on hold while Seattle Public Utilities tries to figure out how to remove the stone from the path of its future storm drain.
We’ll talk with SPU for an update but when we last discussed the problem with the Shaft 5 project manager, the crew still wasn’t sure just how big this nuisance of a rock is. SPU said it could be up to 60 inches wide when we talked last week. It lies in the dirt beneath the pavement in front of Bailey-Boushay House. It doesn’t yet have a nickname. SPU just calls it “the rock.”
In the meantime, drivers in the area should be ready for delays as work to deal with the rock continues:
Drivers near the intersection of E Madison Street and 28th Avenue E should be prepared for intermittent detours and brief lane restrictions as crews perform minor drilling and potholing necessary to locate and remove the obstruction without impacting adjacent utilities
Though boring is on hold while the rock problem persists, excavation in Washington Park to prepare for tank construction has continued.
There’s a man named Flintstone who might be of help…
Why on earth did they wait until Fall to start the project, thus digging all through winter, rather than starting it in the Spring? The conditions (dark, rainy, horrible visibility) seem dangerous for the workers and motorists trying to deal with the blocked streets, impaired visibility, huge monster trucks parked everywhere, etc.