Tunnel to Nowhere: Legislature Considers Use for the Big Mac Building
Roby Brock alerted me this morning that a usually boring meeting of the Joint Committee of Legislative Facilities could be slightly less boring than normal. I was not able to make the meeting but I did catch up with Rep. Gregg Reep who sits on the committee.
Rep. Reep told me that the committee heard from the architect firm Williams and Dean on the potential renovation of the Big Mac building and the possible use of the available space for legislative offices. Although Rep. Reep cautioned me that they are only in the initial discussions, he said that the renovations themselves were estimated at $3.8 million.
The most interesting discussion involves the building of a tunnel connecting the Big Mac Building to the State Capital Building. At One Capital Mall, the Big Mac Building is the closest building to the capital. Rep. Reep said no estimate was given for the cost of tunnel but it could be “several million.” (UPDATE – Kelly MacNeil from KUAR Radio reports that the cost will be between $2.8 and $3.5 million)
Out of curiosity, I walked from the door of the Big Mac Building to the closest side door of the Capital Building to see how far the walk is. It is about 125 steps and less than a minute walk. Rep. Reep saw me doing this and was amused. “I wondered that myself,” he commented. “Maybe we could save some money by passing out umbrellas.”
UPDATE - Avid Tolbert Report reader Rep. Steve Harrelson agrees over on his blog saying, “This tunnel project has apparently been tossed around for generations and, in my own view, is unlikely to ever materialize, especially in the era of term limits. I can get by with an umbrella.”
August 3rd, 2009 at 1:44 pm
You must have been walking pretty fast to get 125 steps in less than a minute. Thats two steps a second!
August 3rd, 2009 at 3:24 pm
You can’t walk two steps a second? You just lost your spot on the Tolbert Report marathon rally walking team.
August 3rd, 2009 at 4:11 pm
I tend to mosey along.
August 4th, 2009 at 1:11 am
A meer 125 feet. I like the idea of perhaps a personalized umbrella for members of the state assembly and a free Big Mac. Having to endure a few raindrops or the almost never present snow is worth saving a couple of million of the public’s money. Gee, I wonder if the hunting-for-work-architects were also proposing a mini-rail system for the tunnel just like the one in DC?
August 4th, 2009 at 1:16 am
If you are a legislator smoking da weed you could probably make it 10 steps a second and giggle all the way. Or if you are a legislator liplocking a big ole Billie Boy stogie or the highly-taxed cig, you might make one step a second or less. Puff, puff…wait a minute, let me catch my breath. Yep, sorry, couldn’t resist the levity the situation presents.