Oops! Spelling errors in Seattle tunnel repair plan video

A video released by the Washington Department of Transportation detailing Seattle Tunnel Partners’ plan for repairing stalled boring machine Bertha might not be presenting the idea in quite the light they would have hoped.

A Dori Monson Show listener noticed the video has a few spelling errors regarding the “repeir.” Pay close attention to the captions around 4:03. On multiple slides in the video, the word “repair” is spelled “repeir.”

The video of course is meant to outline the very complex plan to repair the tunnel boring machine which has been stalled since December 2013.

The plan involves digging a 120-foot circular pit to access the machine, employing a crane to lift out the cutter head, drive axle and bearing in one piece — some 2,000 tons altogether — and set the massive pieces on the surface for repairs. They expect to get drilling back underway by March.

Monson has been skeptical about this plan since it was presented.

“After looking at this conceptual plan that the WSDOT has put out for fixing the tunnel boring machine, I am more confident than ever that my billion-dollar overrun estimate is conservative,” he said back in May.

While Monson figures this video was meant to reassure taxpayers on the status of the project, he says it’s not building his confidence.

“I think most fifth graders can spell the word repair, and they have somebody who is putting out their video who on two different occasions misspells that word in the video,” he says. “It’s unbelievable to me with all the idiocy that’s gone on that they make a typo two times.”

While some might not think a typo is a big deal, Monson says it’s just one more indication of the type of work being done on this project.

“The fact that somebody couldn’t watch this once through and say you’ve got to fix that. It just shows the lack of attention to detail and the mindset that’s wasting a billion dollars on this project and I’m sick of it.”

“These guys, they don’t know what they are doing,” says Monson. “This is a disaster, this project.”

Update: The Washington State Department of Transportation provided the following statement regarding the video errors:

WSDOT had no role in the creation of the video referenced in this article. The video was produced in Japan by tunneling machine manufacturer Hitachi Zosen Corp. We chose to release the video despite the spelling errors because it provided the public with a better understanding of the complicated repair process we were describing. To date, there have been more than 50,000 views on YouTube. We immediately notified Hitachi Zosen of the errors and have since posted a corrected version. To avoid breaking hyperlinks, we chose not to remove the original, incorrect version from YouTube. We also created a more detailed video narrated by Seattle Tunnel Partners’ Chris Dixon, which we invite your readers and listeners to watch by clicking here.