The Denny regrade in progress, 1910
Seattle's early urban topography was radically altered by a series of 60 regrades. They didn't mess around in those days. A few stubborn landowners tried to hold out and were rewarded with some nice "view property."
At the time, these regrades were the largest alternation of any city terrain. Seattle was (and still is) a hilly place, and the regrades consisted of cutting the tops off high places and dumping the dirt on the beach, creating the Seattle waterfront. The Alaska Way viaduct lies on this old landfill, and Bertha is working her way through it underneath.
Millions of tons of dirt were unceremoniously dumped into Puget Sound (sorry, marine creatures) by ingenious tipping barges. This also created Harbor Island, the largest man made island in the world.
If you have 20 minutes to spare, here's an entertaining old film from the Seattle Municipal Archives:
Anyway, all this history puts the piddling Bertha project in perspective. She was stopped again this week (surprise!) but through no fault of her own. A barge tilted and a bit of evacuated "clean" dirt spilled into Puget Sound, causing a big environmental fuss and more delays.
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