Making headlines around the Northwest this morning:
- Boeing Plant Still Closed After Power Outage
- Seattle Tunnel Opponents Up Against Deadline
- State Will Fix Perilous Part of Highway 2 in Snohomish County
Auburn's First and Second Shift Shut Down Today
Transformers failed at Boeing's Auburn plant on Saturday, forcing an evacuation, andcanceling work for thousands of workers Monday.
The company's first and second shifts are suspended, according to The News Tribune's Stacia Glenn:
“Workers continue to restore power across the site,” company spokeswoman Cris McHugh said Sunday. Only “essential, designated” employees are allowed at the Auburn site, according to an employee information hotline.
Some workers are being asked to check in at Boeing's site in Frederickson, in Pierce County. The Boeing spokesman says the cause of the power failure is still a mystery.
Big Week for Efforts to Stop Seattle Waterfront Tunnel
Signatures continue to be gathered for a citywide vote on the planned waterfront tunnel. The Seattle Times reports that the “Protect Seattle Now” campaign could well deliver the required16,503 signatures by Tuesday's deadline to qualify for the ballot. But voters may never get to weigh in.
The referendum and another anti-tunnel measure, Initiative 101, could be subject to legal challenges, according to The Times' Lynn Thompson, depending on what the pro-tunnel city council majority in response:
(Either)...Send the measure to voters and risk outright rejection of a long-planned project — or refuse to allow a public vote on one of the most divisive issues in years..."Whatever happens, somebody will go to court," said Council President Richard Conlin. "Either way, it's not going to be fun."
Top staffers for Mayor Mike McGinn have taken leaves of absence to work on the Protect Seattle Now campaign.
Dangerous Section of U.S. 2 to Get Fix
State lawmakers have given priority to a projectto to make a dangerous section of U.S. Highway 2 in Snohomish safer. The Herald of Everett's Jerry Cornfield reports the Bickford interchange, site of dozens of collisions, have allocated $18.2 million to create a new overpass next year:
"You take a deep breath and go for it in a break in the traffic. It's pretty frightening," (Snohomish Mayor Karen Guzak) said. Drivers must dart across two lanes of eastbound highway traffic, then merge onto the fast lane of the westbound direction. What's envisioned is an overpass above U.S. 2, channeling vehicles onto the highway from the right side.
Since 2000, 28 people have suffered injuries in wrecks at the interchange; there have been no fatalities there since then, according to The Herald.
