Coal Creek Parkway Open

Recently Glen, the Lake Boren Carp, was celebrating the completion of the Coal Creek Parkway project. He was giving water ski rides to the squirrels. A Squirrel doesn’t require a lot of speed to water ski.

The greys were lined up to get a turn on the water and the little Douglas finally began joining in as well. Regular news media didn’t report this because they were down at the May Creek Bridge for the ribbon cutting. If there was a person involved they would have reported it.

The south end of the project is Duvall Avenue in Renton. It’s fairly open now except for a few random lane closures. This is a very classy retaining wall that Renton should be proud of.

Around the corner from the classy wall is the one I predict won’t last. As you can see (assuming your puter can see these photos) there are trees growing out of it. It’s doomed. I just hope nobody gets hurt. For example a retired bald guy getting too close to take a photo.

Continuing north along the new road we come to the new May Creek Bridge. Looking over the railing you can see it’s a very long way down. I never did that before because the old bridge didn’t have enough room for cars and certainly not some random pedestrian. It’s a very long drop if one had to leap over the rail to escape being squished. The new bridge has nice walks on both sides.

The swooping décor is unique on the east side of Lake Washington. I had fun with it.


Then, just for comparison, here’s an old bridge in Indiana. Spring in Indiana this year was very wet.


My boat was floating well above the standard level of the river. As you can see the yellow numbers are expertly applied and professional looking. You can also see why I want to have the boat painted.


OK, back to Coal Creek Parkway. King County took the construction opportunity to build a large pond for rain water. The in thing these days is to hold runoff in ponds to let the debris settle out before releasing it into the streams. This pond is above May Creek.


Up the hill north from May Creek is Wall 104. It’s anchored into the hillside by long bolts and backed up by tons of rock. This stairway goes up to a hiking trail. Us eastsiders have lots of trails where we can wander to and fro hardly knowing where we are. It’s one of the benefits of living in the Bellevue/Newcastle area.

As you can see there’s a handrail on top of the retaining wall. The sidewalk goes up and over the wall while the roadway stays below it. Probably safer that way.


Next up are the Newcastle Oxen. These beasts can haul huge wagon loads of facts and figures about the new roadway construction. If you like facts and figures you’ll just have to wait until these guys bring them to you. My report is all hearsay and rumor.

These next two are the entry and exit portals of the Boren Creek culvert. The crew completely revamped the culvert to make it big enough for Glen to swim in and out of the lake. They’ll deny it had anything to do with the Lake Boren Carp, but we know the truth. It’s hard to see in these photos because I declined to climb down the bank but the culvert is at least six feet around.




Next up is retaining Wall 106. This one is anchored quite far into the hillside in order to make sure the houses on top never come down. There’s a secondary wall topped with a fence and the sidewalk is at street level in this case. This is another retaining wall built for the long haul. I think a number of Volkswagons are stuffed in there to help ballast the wall against any chance of a problem.

Right now you’re probably wondering if there really are 106 retaining walls on Coal Creek Parkway. No. I don’t have a clue why they chose to use those numbers. I don’t do facts and figures. Wait for the oxen.

Al

Rabid Transit Update

First, there was a note in the Newcastle News that a City Councilman is leading the charge to preserve the 42 miles of BNSF track from Renton to Snohomish. He’s actually serious. As I mentioned before, the most compelling reason BNSF wanted to sell the track is the cost of mitigating the grade crossings. It’s got to be enormous.

The second reason, of course, is the lack of business. The corridor no longer serves bulk customers. For railroads to make money they need to haul bulk cargo. Things like cars, coal, 737 bodies, and passengers. But the eastside cities have gone to office intensive businesses and bedrooms. The other big railroad cargo category is containers. We don’t have any container facilities over here in Bellevue. While I’m advocating using the railroads to carry as many of those annoying big truck trailers as possible I don’t see them being delivered to places between Renton and Snohomish.

There’s a third reason BNSF wants to sell the track: the State DOT is destroying part of it. The I-405 project will remove a section of track that goes over the Wilburton Tunnel right now. They had planned to use chance to do the job. What they were hoping for was a big accident in the tunnel that would require emergency demolition, but they finally gave up on that. The emergency demolition would have been required since major accidents attract about 200 emergency vehicles and they figured demolishing the tunnel would be the only way to find room to park them. But no such luck. They even changed the lane markings at random hoping to trigger a big wreck, but it just made people more alert. This is pretty much typical of DOT ideas – THEY DON’T WORK!

But the point is BNSF wanted to get rid of that 42 miles of right of way because it was no longer an asset. And the Port of Seattle was the designated buyer. The plan was that the Port would trade it to King County for the Boeing Field Airport. This was almost a good solution except that the Port Commission got in trouble with auditors due to some over charging of tax payers for hauling dirt. Hauling dirt is one of our main industries and spending a few minutes along the Maple Valley Highway will confirm that. Dump trucks loaded with dirt are bumper to bumper. Both ways. You’d think a couple of phone calls could cut that in half but what do I know?

Anyway, King County would eventually acquire the 42 mile corridor and they planned to designate it a park and install a bike path. That’s right, a bike path to Renton. Go figure!

But the Light Rail nut farmers, including the Newcastle councilman, want to run commuter trains on that track. And, if you don’t have a practical mind, it seems logical. Here’s an existing rail line relatively parallel to I-405 that could be used to get hundreds of drivers off the freeway every day. It would only cost $200 million to build stations, buy trains, and hire sign wavers to stand of street corners and yell at cars. Except the grade crossing mitigation would cost billions, but we don’t mention that. Sure, building a light rail from scratch costs billions but it’s designed as a light rail and includes flyovers and tunnels. Trying to retrofit this line would cost lots more.

Have I tipped my opinion?

Also, I’m apparently being recalled to active military duty. I got a letter from the Army today with all kind of stuff about what a great bunch of guys the Army is. There’s even a metal pin. I suppose it’s supposed to go on my uniform someplace when I report in. But where do I report?
I’ve decided: I’m going to report to the Newcastle City Council. I’ll tell them I’ve been recalled to active duty and that my first assignment is to clear a corridor for commuter rail between Renton and Snohomish. Poof! I’m done. “Just use the existing rail,” is what I’ll say. Then Honorable Discharge follows. The stunned looks will suffice as concurrence and its back to civilian life for me. Boy, the Army is easy.

Worried yet?

Lastly, I’m pronouncing the Renton Saturn dealer is a bunch of pusillanimous prevaricators. These boneheads recently sent my father-in-law off with his newly serviced Saturn and one of the items marked as “done” was “check outside lights” which they didn’t do. He has a brake light out. They didn’t check. For that they get a mention in the Lake Boren Report. If they goof up again, watch out. I might tell them I’m in the Army now and watch them quake.
Has Duvall Avenue closed yet? I need to go check.

Al

Butterfield Rapid Transit Briding

Butterfield Overland Rapid Transit Bird Watching:

Pyrrhuloxia http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/706/overview/Pyrrhuloxia.aspx
In 1858 John Butterfield began to carry mail in his Concord Stage Coaches between San Francisco and St. Louis. The route was 2812 miles and they did it in relays in 22 days, more or less, depending on hostile conditions. They ran twice a week using 250 coaches and 1800 animals. In its day the Butterfield Overland was considered rapid transit.

Gila Woodpecker http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/178/overview/Gila_Woodpecker.aspx
The Butterfield route dipped into Texas, on to El Paso, and then through the southern parts of New Mexico and Arizona. Passengers were only allowed if they seemed to be durable enough to survive the adventure. Horses and drivers were allowed to rest but passengers had to stay with the coach. Or they could sleep on the ground and wait three days for the next coach, I suppose.

Curve billed thrasher http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/745/overview/Curve-billed_Thrasher.aspx
At the onset of the Civil War the Butterfield route was relocated to the Oregon and California pioneer trails via Nebraska and the Rocky Mountains. That route essentially prevented winter travel which was a blow to the already financially strapped Butterfield. It was a serious blow to the people along the southern route as well because during the war there was hardly any communication. Arizona is still recovering. Maybe. It looked that way to me.

Gilded Flicker http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/849/_/Gilded_Flicker.aspx
One of the stagecoach stops was a place called Mesilla in New Mexico north of El Paso. Billy the Kid seems to have made a stop there based on several signs. Today an enduring feature of Mesilla is the excellent food.

Verdin http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/764/overview/Verdin.aspx
Mesilla and its bustling neighbor to the north, Las Cruces, also provide good birding and great hospitality. The Rio Grand River heads south tuning up for its duty as the border between Texas and Old Mexico. Along the river one may see many birds that don’t travel much further north.

Phainopepla http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/209/overview/Phainopepla.aspx
The Butterfield Stage was a grueling ride for everyone but the mail usually got through. The boss refused shipments of gold and silver in order to reduce robbery attempts. The stage often carried soldiers on top along with a driver and shotgun guard on some segments. They were often needed. They were to guard the mail, not the passengers. Today’s rapid transit is pretty tame in comparison. Except maybe in New York.

Chihuahuan Raven http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/92/overview/Chihuahuan_Raven.aspx
In cities like, oh, say Greater Newcastle or Phoenix the all powerful high potentates are building brand spanking new rapid transit systems. These are rail based lines which provide dedicated route structures. Bus systems are everywhere but we can’t call them rapid because they share the road with Fords and Buicks. That means schedule planners have to do exhaustive studies to determine how fast each bus can actually travel over a route. It always turns out to be an approximation. A dedicated rail system can set its own speed. Slow.

Sulphur Bellied Flycatcher http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/396/overview/Sulphur-bellied_Flycatcher.aspx
Visiting the New Mexico and Arizona segment of the Butterfield Overland Stage route is recommended. One can see wide areas of desert. If you like cactus there’s plenty to see, including the majestic saguaro. Side trips will take you to the White Sands Monument and some cliff dwelling sites. And you can drive 75 on the interstate. 80 in Texas. But don’t drive 80 in a 65 zone because Broderick Crawford is hiding behind that next cactus.

I wanted to see an Aplomado Falcon ( http://identify.whatbird.com/obj/447/overview/Aplomado_Falcon.aspx ), but I think I only caught a glimpse of one and that doesn’t count. It could have been a mourning dove or a baseball. A couple hundred baseball teams are in spring training around Phoenix (a conglomerate of 25 municipalities) so baseballs are a real possibility.

Did you know Arizona is the Copper State? It’s because of the mines, not the Highway Patrol.
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-53285850.html

Al

Early Results:

Option 1 – “Blog and email you the text of each new post.”

This is probably going to win, along with Option 4. I started posting my blog and it still needs a few tweaks. For one thing each new topic will have to be a new post. But on the blog it’ll read about the same. The newest post is at the top and then as you read down each paragraph is an earlier post.

Option 2 – “Blog and email just announcements of new posts.”

This one discriminates against those who are using dialup and other “last century” technology so, even though it has some favor it’s not going to win.

Option 3 – “Forget the whole blog thing.”

This is an obvious red herring. Once you get the blog bug its here to stay and I just gave this one because technically it’s possible. But nobody voted for it anyway.

Option 4 – “Do whatever I feel like and let you know.”

As mentioned above I’ll be doing the blog and keeping everyone informed by email. In essence the whole thing becomes Option 5.

Options for Report

Polling My Readers:

The World Wide Web or Internet as we call it has a very interesting component that I have not yet exploited. It’s called the “blog.” I read blogs because they’re interesting to me. The interest comes from the fact that I want to know what’s going on with the people who write them.

So my question to you, my reader, is whether you would like to see the Lake Boren Rapid Transit Report in a blog. And I’ll get to that question after a few more words:
First of all: once when you publish a blog it can get to more readers than the writer knows about. So people who actually live in Newcastle may read it and wonder how I could be so wrong.
My three rules are:
1. Accuracy – optional.
2. Plagiarism – I’m not above it.
3. Frequency – whenever I’m not busy with other time wasting junk.

One or two of these rules might offend some people. And I’m kind of sensitive so I’d be annoyed if I got flamed because of some fun I poke. If I publish a blog I’d need to have a small section near the top that states the rules and the essential point of the blog.

My essential point is that Newcastle is a pretend city, created secretly by Bellevue, as a buffer from Renton. And as a pretend city Newcastle has this grandiose pretend plan for a major Puget Sound Area Transit Center on the shores of Lake Boren. Lake Boren is a pretend lake that would be classified as a pond in most places. But the people who live in Newcastle probably think it’s the best lake west of the Pecos.

In fact Newcastle and Lake Boren do exist and the people who live there probably take themselves seriously. So my words might annoy them. My hope is nobody gets too annoyed. Or I might apply rule number one to them. Pusillanimous Prevaricators!

My biggest issue right now is that everyone who gets these random reports seems to enjoy them (or they are exceedingly polite) and I don’t want to take that away. If I switch to a blog format it means readers may have to go to the blog URL to read the reports.

Option: I could put up a blog but still email the text reports to you. Which would give you the option of reading the email or the blog.
Other option: Send an email to you each time I post a blog update so you can go to the URL to read it.
Other other option: Forget the whole blog thing.
The key primary advantage of a blog (at least the kind I would use) is that I could include links to pertinent web sites, photos (my own, of course), and more corroborating information. In other words I could provide more proof that I’m not making this stuff up. Well not all of it anyway.

So I’d like you to tell me what to do:

Option 1 – Blog and email you the text of each new post.

Option 2 – Blog and email just announcements of new posts.

Option 3 – Forget the whole blog thing.

Option 4 – Do whatever I feel like and let you know.

Voting will close shortly after January 2 when everyone gets back to normal. But don’t worry, I’ll probably count votes that come in after that. My main concern is that I’d really like to know what you want.

I’m not going to stop the Lake Boren Rapid Transit Report. I just want to improve the distribution. So please let me know your thoughts. Maybe there’s an Option 5 that I haven’t thought of. Really, there’s something I may not have thought of. Amazing.

Hoping to hear from you,
Al