Five prominent supporters of the plan to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a deep-bored tunnel and other road/transit projects summoned reporters to Ivar’s Acres of Clams on the downtown waterfront today, saying they needed to correct “falsehoods,” “confusion” and “mis-impressions” that they say are circulating. They blame the “falsehoods” in particular on some political campaigns, specifically citing the campaigns of two anti-tunnel candidates, mayoral hopeful Mike McGinn (who calls the tunnel “unnecessary”) and council hopeful Mike O’Brien (whose tunnel concerns are detailed here). First, the group pointed to the numbers in the graphic you see above: While opponents refer to it as a “$4 billion tunnel,” they note the tunnel itself will cost about half of that total transportation package. State Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, a sponsor of the legislation that made the tunnel plan law, says there’s a “sizable built-in contingency” for the estimated $1.9-$2.2 billion tunnel cost “so cost overruns will be very unlikely and if any minimal.”
She also reiterated that the controversial amendment saying Seattle property owners would have to pay for overruns would almost certainly not hold up in court, if there was any attempt to apply it. And she stressed it was “not an easy feat” to get the tunnel plan through the Legislature in the first place. Briefing participants also stressed that they believe this is the only plan that will “keep traffic flowing” while it’s built. We asked about some West Seattleites’ concerns that accessibility will be hampered by the fact there are no downtown exits in the tunnel:
That question was fielded by Vlad Oustimovitch, the West Seattleite who’s been involved in both the Stakeholder Advisory Group that met for more than a year, pre-tunnel decision, and the South Portal Working Group that’s discussing those accessibility questions now:
(Vlad Oustimovitch at center, flanked by Bob Donegan of Ivar’s and State Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles)
He says that while The Viaduct has two downtown “solutions” for West Seattleites, the comprehensive plan around its replacement has more like “a dozen” and will relieve the existing Seneca “chokepoint” – “as people come from the south, they will be able to access a surface road that in turn access a multitude of points,” which he believes “will significantly relieve the congestion.”
After Oustimovitch’s reply, Ivar’s president Bob Donegan also recapped what the South Portal Working Group’s West Seattle reps — which also include Pete Spalding and Jerome Cohen — had accomplished recently: Taking a look at a rendering that would have broken the connection between Alaskan Way and East Marginal Way and objecting, which led to the creation of a new solution that keeps the connection in place. (Here’s the newest proposal.)
Earlier in the Q/A period, asked why the group was bothering to hold this briefing since the tunnel seemed to be a “done deal,” Oustimovitch said, “In Seattle, nothing’s a done deal.” (The word “monorail” wasn’t uttered but it certainly must have come to many minds around the room.)
But Sen. Kohl-Welles chimed in, “It IS a done deal in terms of state law … we have an appropriation of $2.4 billion including taking down The Viaduct [set to happen in 2016] and authority for (some) tolling.” Donegan added, “Three funding steps are left to complete the process,” including the county and city finalizing their commitments.
Also participating in the briefing were labor rep Dave Freiboth, and Dave Gering, who leads the Manufacturing Industrial Council and mentioned a tunnel article in the latest edition of his group’s magazine. Gering ended the briefing on a reflective note: “I love The Viaduct – I use it every day. I hope my working life will be over before they tear it down. (But) it’s going to be a different world … we don’t get to hold onto what we have. It’s going to be a different city (with a tunnel) … that we will be able to enjoy.”
Side note: The South Portal Working Group, which is focused on accessibility issues for this side of the city, is not expected to meet again till fall. But if you want to dive into great detail on what’s been discussed so far, the library of meeting materials that’s on the Viaduct website is a rich source – in particular, this package of graphics from the group’s last meeting lays out the projected construction timelines all the way through 2017.
ADDED 4:27 PM: From a discussion in the comment section, here is the graphic provided by WSDOT earlier this year regarding how traffic will flow from West Seattle to downtown. This does not include every detail, as some are still being worked out, but these are the basics:
In other developments, the McGinn mayoral campaign has published a reaction of sorts to today’s briefing; see it here. And Mayor Nickels‘ campaign has announced he’ll reveal his agenda for the next four years at a briefing tomorrow.
| 31 COMMENTS