Interesting story in The Seattle Times this morning about the emergence of a 2007 Alaskan Way Viaduct earthquake simulation and whether the timing of its delayed release is in any way related to next week’s mayoral election.

From Jim Brunner’s story:

The state kept that video secret until Sunday night, when it granted an exclusive airing to KING-TV — just nine days before the end of a Seattle mayoral election dominated by a fight over whether to replace the viaduct with a waterfront tunnel.

State officials say they released the video in response to a public-disclosure request last month from an anti-tunnel activist. But they acknowledged they decided to give KING-TV first crack at it. As of Monday, the activist who’d actually requested the video had not received a copy.

Mayoral candidate Mike McGinn, who opposes the tunnel project, questioned the timing — and noted the video was produced by a tunnel contractor linked to his opponent, Joe Mallahan.

WSDOT says the timing was coincidental. From WSDOT’s blog.

The video itself is pretty harrowing, almost James Cameron stuff. (If James Cameron was a structural engineer on an $80,000 budget). Check it out on You Tube.