Having grown up in Seattle and moving to Chicago three years ago, I always find every time I return home the city seems to be undergoing new developmental changes. Whether it be new road construction or building projects, in just the past three years alone I have watched the city not only tear down our beloved viaduct waterfront highway but also construct one of the newest prominent non profit institutions, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a mere three blogs away from my childhood home. With any of these projects, whether they be large or smaller scale, a huge amount of budgeting and project management goes in to making sure the proposed ideas are a success. So what project is next on Seattle’s agenda? A local Seattle Times article highlights the city’s newest proposal, a huge waterfront project to replace the deconstruction of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018675074_waterfront13m.html

 

The new project would include not only new streets and pathways but also parks, a roller rink, and even a salt water swimming pool and is the biggest civic project Seattle has seen since 1962. To reiterate what has been discussed time and again, any management for projects of this time takes an immense amount of planning in everything from the beginning stages, budgeting, and execution. Even deciding between the type of scheduling or budgeting methods you use can have a huge impact on the duration and success of the project. For a project of this size, which will take years to fully execute, the city must prioritize and time each separate activity to ensure their time estimates are as accurate as possible. As demonstrated by the project triangle learned in class, performance, time, and cost must all be taken into heavy consideration because a lack of concentration in just one of these areas can be detrimental to the success of a project.

While still in relatively preliminary planning on the project, the city already has a proposed budget of $420 billion dollars with both public and private contributions as well as a project duration of 7 to 8 years. For funding alone they have already presented various fundraising activities and programs to jumpstart the public donations. Each of these activities, however, will also need to be properly planned, budgeted, and executed to earn the maximum amount of money possible for the project. While much of the planning is still in relatively new stages, the budgeting as received positive feedback from the finance committee, stating it seems attainable as well as reasonable. “We went into this worrying about the scale,” said Gerry Johnson, a Seattle attorney and co-chairman. “We’ve emerged being very confident that this is something we can accomplish.” (Seattle Times) As long as the city can keep cost and proper planning in accordance with their budgets and performance, this could prove to be the largest, most successful civil project the city has seen in a long time, and one I would appreciate coming home to. Do you agree? Does the budgeting and planning seem appropriate or are they neglecting a component that could hurt a project of this size?