Posted on May 19, 2022
Scenic Tacoma road permanently closed to cars. Blame climate change
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Crumbling cliffs have led Metro Parks Tacoma to permanently close two miles of Five Mile Drive, a popular park road built atop the bluffs of Tacoma’s Point Defiance 109 years ago.
City officials are blaming climate change for the worsening erosion of a 150-foot-tall sea bluff that frames the Point Defiance peninsula as it juts into Puget Sound.
“Increasing stormwater, storm intensity at the top of the hill, and increasing wave energy and the dynamic of erosion at the toe of the slope, those are combining to accelerate the rate at which the bluff banks are receding,” Metro Parks Tacoma Deputy Planning Director Marty Stump said.
In places, the cliff edge has come within 20 feet of the recreational road built in 1913. The road will remain open to people on foot or bicycle.
“I have fond childhood memories of this drive and will miss occasionally riding my motorcycle through there,” Tacoma resident Jeromy Crom said on Twitter. “But being able to walk the dogs without concerns of idiots driving while distracted by raccoons is such a win.”
City officials are blaming climate change for the worsening erosion of a 150-foot-tall sea bluff that frames the Point Defiance peninsula as it juts into Puget Sound.
“Increasing stormwater, storm intensity at the top of the hill, and increasing wave energy and the dynamic of erosion at the toe of the slope, those are combining to accelerate the rate at which the bluff banks are receding,” Metro Parks Tacoma Deputy Planning Director Marty Stump said.
In places, the cliff edge has come within 20 feet of the recreational road built in 1913. The road will remain open to people on foot or bicycle.
“I have fond childhood memories of this drive and will miss occasionally riding my motorcycle through there,” Tacoma resident Jeromy Crom said on Twitter. “But being able to walk the dogs without concerns of idiots driving while distracted by raccoons is such a win.”
Scenic Tacoma road permanently closed to cars. Blame climate change
Posted from kuow.org
Tacoma
Climate Change
Puget Sound
Driving
Motorcycles
Edited 2 y ago
Posted 2 y ago
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Interesting article. It is obvious Mr. Ryan (The article’s author) is an advocate for Climate Change.
What qualifications do City officials and Metro Parks Tacoma Deputy Planning Director Marty Stump have that qualifies them to make a judgement that Climate Change is destroying two miles of Five Mile Drive? These people have no qualifications that the article provides. How far was the cliff edge away from the road (that’s now 20’ away from the road) 109 tears ago? What material is the bluff (a steep cliff, bank) made of? These would be good questions for these officials to answer before they shoot their mouths off. This location appears to be a place where no responsible official would put a road: public, recreational, or otherwise. I could say a few more things but I won't.
Their hired engineering consultant said: ““As a result of wave action at the toe of the slope and erosion of exposed soils, the bluff will continue to experience surficial sloughing that propagates further inland towards Five Mile Drive and the Gig Harbor Viewpoint,” they reported.
The consultants said a retaining wall or other engineering measures to save the cliffside road would be very expensive and impractical. Instead, they recommended relocating it in the woods 150 feet back from the bluff.”
I could have told them all this from just looking at the picture. I hope they didn’t pay their consultant too much. By the way the consultant gave very good advice.
Mr. Ryan goes on to report what unnamed Scientists say about things in general. Typically, this is how activists speak/write when trying to bring favorable emotion about for their cause when they don’t have the honest facts on their side. Fact: Steep soil slopes adjacent to tidal waves are unstable. It’s that simple.
What qualifications do City officials and Metro Parks Tacoma Deputy Planning Director Marty Stump have that qualifies them to make a judgement that Climate Change is destroying two miles of Five Mile Drive? These people have no qualifications that the article provides. How far was the cliff edge away from the road (that’s now 20’ away from the road) 109 tears ago? What material is the bluff (a steep cliff, bank) made of? These would be good questions for these officials to answer before they shoot their mouths off. This location appears to be a place where no responsible official would put a road: public, recreational, or otherwise. I could say a few more things but I won't.
Their hired engineering consultant said: ““As a result of wave action at the toe of the slope and erosion of exposed soils, the bluff will continue to experience surficial sloughing that propagates further inland towards Five Mile Drive and the Gig Harbor Viewpoint,” they reported.
The consultants said a retaining wall or other engineering measures to save the cliffside road would be very expensive and impractical. Instead, they recommended relocating it in the woods 150 feet back from the bluff.”
I could have told them all this from just looking at the picture. I hope they didn’t pay their consultant too much. By the way the consultant gave very good advice.
Mr. Ryan goes on to report what unnamed Scientists say about things in general. Typically, this is how activists speak/write when trying to bring favorable emotion about for their cause when they don’t have the honest facts on their side. Fact: Steep soil slopes adjacent to tidal waves are unstable. It’s that simple.
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The Earth is going to warm up no matter what we do unless of course, we have a limited nuclear war because we put all our money into climate change mitigation at AOC wants instead of putting it toward defense. This results in Vladimir Putin and the present for life of China knowing that President Biden is incapacitated so let's take advantage of the situation worldwide. Also, remember China and India are given till about 2060 to get their acting gear and they keep building Coal Fired power plants as we speak. So when AOC talks about 10 years to doomsday, she ignores the Chinese and the Indians.
The latest President Biden budget has a 15% increase in a couple federal agencies help with climate change but only a 4% increase in defense while the US Navy has to cut back on ships even though China has another one Navy in the world right now and many of their ships have shouldering battering ram bows.
If we could take all these hundreds of billions of dollars from climate change and put it back at the defense or pay down the budget, we could really improve the USA but right now we have an Administration that is being run by the man behind the curtain Bernie Sanders.
Bernie Sanders is The Wizard of Oz.
https://www.stripes.com/branches/navy/2022-03-28/navy-budget-ships-sailors-defense-strategy-5507685.html
SGT (Join to see)
The latest President Biden budget has a 15% increase in a couple federal agencies help with climate change but only a 4% increase in defense while the US Navy has to cut back on ships even though China has another one Navy in the world right now and many of their ships have shouldering battering ram bows.
If we could take all these hundreds of billions of dollars from climate change and put it back at the defense or pay down the budget, we could really improve the USA but right now we have an Administration that is being run by the man behind the curtain Bernie Sanders.
Bernie Sanders is The Wizard of Oz.
https://www.stripes.com/branches/navy/2022-03-28/navy-budget-ships-sailors-defense-strategy-5507685.html
SGT (Join to see)
Navy looks to cut 24 ships, adds 9 more in proposed 2023 budget
The Navy wants to cut 24 ships and build nine more in its proposed $180.5 billion budget for 2023, the service’s top budget officer said Monday. The Navy also proposes reducing the service by about 620 active-duty sailors, bringing the force to about 346,300.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."As a result of wave action at the toe of the slope and erosion of exposed soils, the bluff will continue to experience surficial sloughing that propagates further inland towards Five Mile Drive and the Gig Harbor Viewpoint,” they reported.
The consultants said a retaining wall or other engineering measures to save the cliffside road would be very expensive and impractical. Instead, they recommended relocating it in the woods 150 feet back from the bluff."...
..."As a result of wave action at the toe of the slope and erosion of exposed soils, the bluff will continue to experience surficial sloughing that propagates further inland towards Five Mile Drive and the Gig Harbor Viewpoint,” they reported.
The consultants said a retaining wall or other engineering measures to save the cliffside road would be very expensive and impractical. Instead, they recommended relocating it in the woods 150 feet back from the bluff."...
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