Bertha may have a new timeline in place to complete a four-lane tunnel underneath Seattle's waterfront, but skepticism over the machine's ability to get the job done isn't gone.
Bertha, the world's largest boring machine, is scheduled to begin drilling again in November, after sitting idle for repairs. But some worry the tunnel project will eventually lead to the court room for a variety of reasons, such as former state attorney general and KIRO Radio political analyst Rob McKenna. He was in office at the time the contract for Bertha was being negotiated and his office handled some of those contract details.
McKenna told KIRO Radio's Dave Ross that any complex project, like the tunnel project, is bound to end up with some litigation.
"Bound to" if people negotiate idiotic contracts. Ahem.
"When a contractor goes bankrupt you hope that they are bonded, in other words, that they are insured. And you go after that bond, or that insurance, to recover [money]," he said. "Here you have a complicating factor that this joint venture is a consortium of more than one company. So what's going bankrupt? The consortium, or the individual companies in the consortium? It would be a big mess and take years for the state to recover its losses. It will be a mess."
Yah, you just hope. You know, dream. Maybe...wish a little on a star!
Good luck, Seattle!