The SR 520 Bridge
At the heart of Seattle’s traffic congestion is SR 520 – one of Puget Sound’s major arteries for transporting people and goods. One of the oldest floating bridges in the world, the SR 520 Evergreen Point Bridge is at the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced for the safety of the traveling public. If this bridge were to suffer a seismic failure, travel time between downtown and Seattle and Redmond would nearly double from an average of 33 minutes to 55 minutes.
Um, we must have had a seismic failure like 2 plus years ago because my commute takes a hell of a lot longer than 33 minutes. Hell, it takes more than 55 minutes. 55 minutes? Where the hell do I sign up for that? I'll take a 55 minute commute any day of the week because it still beats my hour plus commute, each way on a daily basis.
And don't get confused. When they said "at the end of its useful life" they were referring to the life in which the bridge served as a means to get from point A to point B. Because let’s not mince words. It’s still got a full time life devoted solely to the purpose of sucking the soul of each and every person that has to sit on it, in traffic, the non-moving variety. Oh joy! I can't wait until they built that Monorail, you know, so I can continue to sit and traffic.
Just in case you're not from Seattle and don't know what I'm talking about, let me break it down like this...