As we learned late last week, the mysterious object that blocked Bertha the tunnel boring machine was not a sunk locomotive or dragon egg or even Cthulhu. It was a pipe. Though, considering that WSDOT is the ones who put it there, they're probably wishing it was a fire-breathing monster instead. You might expect a blame game to erupt right about now. And you'd be right...
1. "There is no rule that [says] all well casings have to be removed." - Department of Ecology spokesperson William Lum
2. "Under standard practice, when a well is installed and used and then its use is complete, it's decommissioned and it's typically decommissioned by removing it from the ground — it's a Department of Ecology requirement." - Chris Dixon, project manager at Seattle Tunnel Partners
3. "If we had known the pipe was there, we would have removed it." - Dixon
4. "I don't want people to say WSDOT didn't know where its own pipe was, because it did." Washington spokesman Lars Erickson
5. "Given the current questions about WSDOT's competence and management, it makes you wonder whether we're better off with gridlock." - Knute Berger, Crosscut
6. "Does anybody believe that they didn't know before now what was blocking Big Bertha and this isn't a classic Friday news dump where they're hoping it'll get buried by the end of the week?...I bet they've known for days. I bet they would have done this press conference later if The Seattle Times hadn't gotten the story because you do it at 4 p.m. to make it even tougher to get on the newscasts...Either they've been lying about it for a month or they didn't know. This is unbelievable."- Dori Monson, MyNorthwest
7. "Chances are, none of those school children trying to guess what was blocking Bertha picked a 8-inch-diameter steel pipe that everyone should have known was down there. Why? Because kids have amazing imaginations, and such a conclusion would have been fucking stupid." - Matt Driscoll, Seattle Weekly
8. "Tunneling is hard." - Matt Preedy, WSDOT Alaskan Way Viaduct Replacement Program deputy administrator
· Bertha Blockage Update: The Mystery Object Is A Pipe. Oh… [Curbsed Seattle]
· What's Blocking Bertha? Probably A Steel Pipe The State Put There, WSDOT Says [KPLU]
· Prosaic Pipe Stymied Seattle's Big Bertha [NY Times]
· Bertha's nemesis: 119-foot steel pipe [Seattle Times]
· Steel pipe blamed in Bertha blockage but more uncertainties could be ahead [Crosscut]
· Berthing Pains [Crosscut]
· Steel Pipe Everyone Should Have Known About Is What's Been Blocking Bertha [Seattle Weekly]
· Dori: WSDOT clearly lied about Bertha blockage [MyNorthwest]
· All Bertha coverage [Curbed Seattle]