Tunnel schmunnel

West Seattle’s Most Famous Politician may well be cursing into his coffee this morning. Since no voter verdict is pending, a paper & pollster decided to take The Pulse of the People another way regarding Viaduct Vs. Tunnel Vs. Neither. The best stuff is in the middle of the story — the Guv says she’s glad to have SOME kind of public feedback; Hizzoner says, in effect, never mind the people, he’s got the back of future generations; West Seattle respondents say (60%-40%) JUST REPLACE THE DAMN THING AND BE DONE WITH IT, ‘KAY? One thing about the story bugs me, though. It mentions that the first round of questioning to poll respondents included asking them about The Third Option. However, the story never gets around to mentioning exactly how many preferred it. (Maybe there’s a breakdown in the “dead tree” version of the paper? Speaking of dead trees, that’s one of our next topics.)

Alvis October 15, 2006 (5:24 pm)

Any bets when local politicians plan to beautify Lake Washington by removing and not replacing the floating bridges? Or else replacing the bridges with a world class underwater tunnel?

Administrator October 15, 2006 (5:54 pm)

You know, that’s a heck of an idea. It would be a much nicer view if we could just admire the sweeping expanse of the lake without two freeways cutting across the top of it.

Art October 16, 2006 (1:58 pm)

I’m all for a tunnel..except I think it should be tolled.

Forest October 17, 2006 (4:35 pm)

A conservative guess would be that 90% of the people who rely on the viaduct corridor do NOT want a tunnel in the first place, especially since it would eliminate all direct connections to the central business district downtown,

Forcing them to pay tolls for a needless and overpriced project that ruins current access to downtown and adds to travel time and is NOT wanted by its potential users is the definition of adding insult to injury.

If tolls are imposed they should be in the form of massive tax increases on waterfront landowners that have a millions to gain in land values and nothing to lose from a waterfront tunnel that does no good for its users. Also, how about imposing a license fee on all bicycles so that riders can help pay for the flatland waterfront they feel entitled to?

Sorry, comment time is over.