‘Got to get this project right’ says Murray of waterfront work
Jan 3, 2014, 1:51 PM | Updated: Jan 6, 2014, 5:40 am
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray has concerns about delays and the rising costs of projects linked to Seattle's central waterfront redevelopment.(Seattle City Council image)
(Seattle City Council image)
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray has concerns about delays and the rising costs of projects linked to Seattle’s central waterfront redevelopment.
While the state of Washington is responsible for the tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct, the city of Seattle is reconstructing its 100-year old seawall and building various other projects associated with the waterfront renovation.
“We have got to get this project right and I believe that by putting a project manager in charge of it and looking at our own project management delivery system within WSDOT, we can do better than we’ve done on this,” said Murray at his first city hall news conference as mayor.
The mayor wants to change the way the city delivers big projects, citing success by the Washington State Department of Transportation in handling highway projects.
“I think that this city is in desperate need of adapting some of those techniques,” said Murray. He wants to appoint a new manager to oversee the city projects. He promised more details in the weeks ahead.
While the tunneling machine “Bertha” has not moved for more than one month and the estimated cost of the city’s seawall replacement project has risen from $300-$350 million, Murray says the last time he checked, central waterfront work underway by the state is on-time and on-budget while the city-run projects are not.
