Dori: Sound Transit’s incompetence on full display in I-5 flood

Sound Transit and freeway sound barriers are my two least favorite transportation things in this state.

There was a flood on I-5 Tuesday morning because a Sound Transit contractor was digging around one of these unnecessary sound barriers in the Northgate-Lynnwood light rail construction and hit a water main. It’s not enough that they’re taking out all of those beautiful evergreens in their light rail construction — they have to hit pipes too.

The broken water main was at 220th Street, exit 177, in Mountlake Terrace. Water went all over the freeway, flooding southbound I-5 during rush hour.

“People were saying that the ramp from 220th was closed because water was just cascading down the road and covering the freeway … there were several inches of water across the freeway, and at points it pooled up pretty [heavily],” KIRO Radio transportation reporter Chris Sullivan told me.

Dori responds to Danny Westneat’s column: My words on Sound Transit all true

With the Seattle Tunnel fiasco, you would think that Sound Transit would be especially careful to not clip pipes while digging.

You know those commercials you hear all the time that say things like, “Call 8-1-1- before you dig?” I’m wondering, did Sound Transit call 8-1-1?

If you or I do not call 8-1-1 and we hit a water main when we’re doing a project around the house, guess who gets to pay for the cleanup? We do. If Sound Transit hits a water main, guess who gets to pay for it? We do. We the taxpayers fund Sound Transit. Once again, you and I will have to pay more because of Sound Transit’s incompetence.

Is anyone going to be held accountable for this rush-hour flood? Is anyone going to be fired? Of course not — it’s tax money. There’s plenty more where that came from.

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