Kenmore Homes Swallowed Whole by Brightwater Sewage Tunnel!
Posted by the Kenmore Crow | Filed under Construction
Okay that headline isn’t exactly true. But apparently there have been some pretty serious problems…
The Seattle Times had an interesting story a few days ago about the trouble brewing hundreds of feet under our fair city: Brightwater tunnel likely causing homes’ troubles
Neighbors of Brightwater have complained of construction noises late into the night, cracked floors and foundations, a sinkhole that swallowed a driveway, pollution of a creek, homes flooded with sewage and wells gone dry.
Most of the complaints have been filed by people who live along the tunnel route. The tunnel runs under Northeast 195th Street and other roads, and directly beneath 147 private properties, officials said.
Here are some of the things neighbors have endured:
- Marlene and Eldon Berg’s previously quiet Kenmore neighborhood became a noisy construction site, with truck engines revving, backup beepers sounding and metal banging on metal when contractors began digging a tunnel portal. Windows in their home rattled and floors shook when a boring machine chewed its way out of the portal. After the Bergs’ well ran dry, the county hooked them up to the city water system.
- Ray Ames was asleep when his wife, Mary, woke him up and showed him a brownish liquid flooding the kitchen and pouring out of the toilet. Raw sewage had backed up into the house because of pump problems on a Kenmore sewer line that was being redirected to the Brightwater plant. Two years later the county paid more than $70,000 for repairs and legal fees.
- Pauline Chihara stepped out of her Kenmore home early one morning and discovered her driveway had fallen into a 30-foot-wide, 15-foot-deep sinkhole.
Yikes!
Here’s a map of where the Brightwater tunnel passes through underneath Kenmore:
View the full system map at the project page on King County’s website.
Sounds like it’s a good idea to keep your eyes peeled for potential problems (cracked foundations and driveways, plumbing issues, etc.) if you live anywhere along the NE 195th St. route.
If a giant sinkhole swallows your house, call 9-1-1 from the neighbor’s place after you barely escape with your life. If you have other, less pressing problems thanks to Brightwater, call the County’s construction information line at 206-205-5989.
Tags: Brightwater, Construction, King County, sewage
One Response to “Kenmore Homes Swallowed Whole by Brightwater Sewage Tunnel!”
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What I found particularly interesting about the Times article you cite is all the whining and complaining about Brighwater, Ron Sims, spending, blah, blah, blah……..
Most of the criticism of the project is based on simple ignorance: Big giant infrastructural projects encounter problems. They are difficult, costly and sometimes not-at-all community friendly. If someone out there has a better idea (ya, sure, let’s have everyone install a septic system so we can all be “free of government”), I’d like to hear it.
Second, Ron Sims tried to put the Brightwater Project in any number of communities. This was a classic NIMBY situation. The project is digging through 13 miles of King County due to the shortsightedness of the citizens themselves.
Third, the numbers thrown out regarding the cost of Brightwater have been so politicized and tortured by its critics that one can hardly get a sense of what these projects really cost. The $1Billion figure so often quoted was based on projections back in the 1990’s. It’s a number that stuck…as if a decade later the cost would not go up.
Ultimately, this region will benefit greatly with the construction of Brightwater. It is emblematic of our current American inability to look into the future, to allow our infrastructure to fall into disrepair and then point the finger at someone else when something goes wrong. Happy flushing.
January 28th, 2010 at 9:45 AM