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That time Bill Gates paid the government to build him a secret tunnel to his vacation home

From Billionaire, Nerd, Saviour, King by Anupreeta Das loc 4574:

Highway 106 cut through the Alderbrook property, putting its parking lot on the other side of the road. The problem could be solved by rerouting the highway to move the lot to the same side. But that meant the Gates vacation compound, which contained five homes, was going to be split into two. To fix the problem—and avoid the prying eyes of resort visitors curious about the billionaire next door—Gates reportedly paid the State of Washington more than $2 million to have a special tunnel built under the rerouted highway to connect the compound. The project took advantage of a state law that encouraged public-private partnerships, including to “facilitate the safe transport of people or goods via any mode of travel.” It was managed by Watermark, the Gates entity that managed his personal affairs and real estate, and took about four years to complete. Although the state owns it, Watermark has exclusive use of the tunnel because an air space lease gives it right of way. Hidden by a thicket of vegetation, the tunnel is difficult to spot from the highway, but a paved, winding road hidden behind a discreet wrought-iron and wooden gate connects it to the highway. If guests of Alderbrook veer too close to the Gates property, the hotel’s security guards speedily arrive on golf carts to shoo them away.

See also the time that it was seriously discussed whether a bridge should be dismantled in order to let Bezos’s massive phallic yacht through. From loc 4168:

At more than 417 feet in length, Koru, the luxury schooner custom-made for Bezos, is like the average cruise ship you might see lazily skimming the surface of a river, dotted with dozens of tourists, rather than a private boat. It is so massive that a historic bridge in Rotterdam was almost dismantled to let it through, although local authorities decided against it at the last minute, deeming it too risky from the point of view of public opinion. And as if the skies and oceans weren’t enough, billionaires are increasingly pursuing private efforts to explore and even colonize space and planets and push deep-sea exploration.

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