Hey, Johnston -- What's That Big Concrete Thing Floating On Lake Washington? -- Twenty-Eight Years, $1.5 Billion Later And We've Finally Got A Bridge

Dear Readers:

When Lyndon Johnson was president, the Army Corps of Engineers approved the plans and location of a new floating bridge and highway across Lake Washington between Seattle and Mercer Island.

It would take only 28 years and $1.5 billion to get it built. During that time, presidents came and went, wars were fought and won (and lost), the final miles of the Interstate 90 highway in Seattle were started and stopped (remember the ramps to nowhere?) and a storm came along and sank a bridge to the bottom of the lake. But on Sunday,opening ceremonies will be held for the replacement to that ill-fated bridge and traffic should be flowing across it by later that afternoon - completing the I-90 project once and for all.

Over the years, as thousands of motorists worked their way across the bridge and watched the construction, they have wondered many things. Why is someone doing this or that on the bridge? Did the state know about that? How much is all of this going to cost?

Foolishly enough, some of those people submitted their questions to Steve Johnston, our self-anointed resident expert on anything having to do with the Eastside. Below, Mr. Johnston's attempts to answer some of those questions:

Hey, Johnston: How much did this cost us?

Answer: Altogether, the I-90 project cost $1.56 billion. That includes about $100 million resulting from the sinking of the old Lacey Murrow (Mercer Island) bridge. All told, the three bridges (Lacey Murrow, which is the one that's about to open; Homer Hadley, the bridge right next door to it that's in service now; and East Channel, the bridge on the other side of Mercer Island) cost a total of $335,100,000. All the stuff done on Mercer Island (lids and roads, etc.) cost an additional $547,900,000. The Hadley bridge, by the way, is the world's largest floating bridge.

Hey, Johnston: Why is the replacement bridge so far ahead of the schedule they announced after the other one sank? How did that happen on a government job?

Answer: Money. If a contractor can finish a project - like I-90 - ahead of schedule, they get a bonus. Because the economy is so bad, contractors are now bidding jobs at cost and relying on the bonus money for finishing early for their profit. It's happening on all sorts of highway projects.

Hey, Johnston: They have bridge-like structures at both ends of the new bridge that are left over from the old bridge, and I'm wondering, are they gonna take those ugly things down? I'm just real curious as to what the final look is going to be for the new bridge.

Answer: What you see is what you get. Those archways were cut down the middle and then widened so they could fit the new wider roadway. The arches were covered with plastic for the last two months because the old paint was being sandblasted off and it contained lead. The state didn't want the lead paint to fall into the lake. The arches were then painted a tasteful state gray and the girders painted a lovely black so they will look like the rib cage of a dinosaur.

Hey, Johnston: When the new I-90 bridge opens up, do you know whether the car-pool lane will be a 3-person as the signs say, or will it remain a 2-person as it now is heading westbound?

Answer: It will remain a 2-person HOV lane, so keep your inflated doll handy.

Hey, Johnston: How come, if the big part of the bridge is new and has all those gadoodles of lanes (6 or 8 or something like that), they then complain that there isn't room for the gol-darn train, if we ever get the train?

Answer: Once the new bridge opens on Sunday, it will have three lanes heading east. Then the bridge that's out there now will have three lanes heading into Seattle, open to all traffic.

Then the remaining space on the existing bridge will be turned into two car-pool (HOV) lanes that will start out being used for eastbound traffic, and eventually will be used for reversible lanes. These HOV lanes are designed so that someday they could be used for rail or transit. Or strapping people to giant skateboards and shooting them across the bridge with huge rubber bands. The state hasn't decided what to do with those lanes, but you can rest assured that whatever they do, it will be wrong.

Hey, Johnston: Who's gonna live in that really neat house they built between the two I-90 bridges on the shores of Mercer Island?

Answer: This house is certainly on a prime piece of waterfront property, if you don't mind a little traffic noise from an interstate highway going by directly over your head. But nobody is going to live in it. It's not really a house. It looks like one because it's made out of brick and has windows. It's actually just a building for highway maintenance crews and the I-90 boat crew.

Inside are a bunch of rooms for working on stuff, and electronic equipment to run the bridge. In the basement is Norman Bates' mother . . . oops! wrong question. Actually, there is a boat ramp in the basement, and workers can pull up the I-90 boat to work on it. (We would tell you about the I-90 boat, but nobody asked.)

By the way, if you are interested in living under the bridge, just like the troll in the Three Billy Goats Gruff, the state is planning on selling two real houses, just south of the bridge on Mercer Island, in two months. The state bought the houses when it started working on the bridge.

Hey, Johnston: What is the overpass on I-90 connecting the southern aspect of Luther Burbank Park to the northern aspect? Where are the stairs? What access is there for people?

Answer: Aspect? Isn't that some kind of red Jell-O stuff they serve at Thanksgiving dinner? We think we know what you are talking about, even if you don't. There is a bike path on the north side of the park, and there is access along North Mercer Way. There is also access from the Mercer Island business center at North Mercer Way and Southeast 26th Avenue. Walk about a quarter-mile.

Mercer Island got a pretty sweet deal from this project. The city ended up with 14 acres of park land on top of the lid, and they are putting in baseball fields, basketball and tennis courts. The park has the best view on the island.

Hey, Johnston: What are those numbers on the side of the walls in the Mercer Island tunnels? There are vertical lines and then large bumpy numbers, and I can't for the life of me figure out what they are.

Answer: If something happens inside the "tunnels" (actually these are really lids where the highway goes through a hill and a ceiling is put on top and the whole thing is covered with dirt), there is someone watching on television cameras from inside the tunnel control room.

This operator can do one of several things - from turning on warning signs to throwing switches to turning on fire-fighting equipment. Anyway, the numbers on the wall are reference points to direct emergency equipment. How would you like to be in an accident and have the tunnel operator telling the fire department: "Yeah, it's right around the second escape hatch. No, no. The one up by that first curve where everyone slows down." It's a lot easier to say a number and they know where you're talking about. We hope they know, anyway.

Hey, Johnston: Ever since Exit 7A to Mercer Island (eastbound) opened, the roadway under the overpass has been soaking wet by drainage - rain or shine. Did DOT plan this to always be this way?

Answer: The DOT didn't plan on this. It's runoff from the hill, and the state folks are trying to fix it.