From the Washington Department of Transportation, dated July 30, 2010 –
“If you live near the Aurora Bridge, there’s a good chance you haven’t slept much lately. A couple of weeks ago our contractor began using a tool called the Rivet Buster to remove rivets and bolts on the historic bridge. In many ways the Rivet Buster was a great tool. It was fast, efficient, safe and environmentally sound. But it was really loud. Can’t get any sleep loud. Loud as a monster woodpecker banging on a metal tree. So loud that some of your neighbors got up in the middle of the night to write us or call our 24-hour noise hotline (206-440-4099). And we listened.
“As of this posting the Rivet Buster is on hiatus while we look into quieter ways to remove the rivets and bolts that meet our safety and environmental standards, and keep us on schedule. If those don’t pan out, the Rivet Buster will be on a 10 p.m. curfew.
“Why the heck can’t we just get the loud work done during the day, you ask? It comes down to safety and traffic. Workers need to close two lanes of the bridge to create a safe work zone. When two out of three lanes are closed at night, traffic can scoot by without many slowdowns. But if we closed two out of three lanes during the day, that could cause some lengthy backups on Aurora Avenue and send the spillover traffic over to Fremont and Dexter avenues.
“It’s a delicate balancing act where one person’s cost is often another person’s benefit. The bus rider that gets on the 358 at N. 46th Street wants to get to work on time. The person living under the bridge wants a good night’s sleep. The taxpayer wants the project to stay on budget. And the construction worker wants to come home safe. And yes, we really do think about how our decisions affect each of them.
“And what about the schedule? We hope to have the fence complete by the end of 2010 or early 2011. You can visit our website for more information as well”