# Olympia, Seattle and a hole in the ground

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympia-seattle-and-a-hole-in-the-ground/686978>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [April 25, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympia-seattle-and-a-hole-in-the-ground/686978 "2014-04-25T18:50:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympia-seattle-and-a-hole-in-the-ground/686978/61 "2014-10-26T18:31:50Z")

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I don’t doubt that there’s plenty of corruption involved, **grude**. I’m disgusted with the whole thing.

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**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympia-seattle-and-a-hole-in-the-ground/686978/62 "2014-10-27T03:59:36Z")

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As a Seattleite I have to weep at how many of my tax dollars are being dumped into this comedy of errors. But as someone who commutes by bicycle to and from downtown most of the time, I can at least laugh smugly knowing that the continuing traffic clusterfucks affect me very little. 😛

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**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\
**Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympia-seattle-and-a-hole-in-the-ground/686978/63 "2014-11-05T17:35:15Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> It’s believed the shells come from commercial shellfish activities that were carried out by early settlers around the turn of the 20th century.

[http://www.komonews.com/news/local/281408021.html](http://www.komonews.com/news/local/281408021.html)

Efforts to reach Bertha have resumed.

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**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympia-seattle-and-a-hole-in-the-ground/686978/64 "2014-12-10T19:13:05Z")

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Nearby buildings in Pioneer Square [have begun to settle](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/10/us/in-seattle-a-sinking-feeling-about-a-troubled-tunnel.html), apparently due to pumping being done for the hole being dug down to the face Bertha.

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**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2014, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympia-seattle-and-a-hole-in-the-ground/686978/65 "2014-12-10T19:18:15Z")

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> [@eschereal](#):
>
> Nearby buildings in Pioneer Square [have begun to settle](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/10/us/in-seattle-a-sinking-feeling-about-a-troubled-tunnel.html), apparently due to pumping being done for the hole being dug down to the face Bertha.

I was amused by the reason that Bertha broke: “the machine’s bearings became clogged with grit”. WTF? It’s an EARTH BORING MACHINE. It would seem that a requisite feature of AN EARTH BORING MACHINE that is unmanned and is going 120 feet underground would be that grit wouldn’t be a problem. I hope they’re suing the manufacturer.

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**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2015, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/olympia-seattle-and-a-hole-in-the-ground/686978/66 "2015-01-13T07:01:37Z")

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Now we hear that engineers [warned of potential catastrophic failure](http://q13fox.com/2015/01/12/engineers-uses-the-words-catastrophic-failure-prompting-city-leaders-to-question-safety-of-viaduct/) in the excavation of Bertha. The WSDOT says that the language in the letter was exaggerated, so they toned it down for the official report, and are considering limiting the Seattle DOT’s access to the shared database where the offending letter was discovered.

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