We\u2019ve always suspected some elected officials of having tunnel vision. How right we were.<\/p>\n
The latest example is the \u201cdeal\u201d to replace Seattle\u2019s Alaskan Way Viaduct with a deep-bore tunnel. As trumpeted earlier this month by Gov. Gregoire, King County Executive Ron Sims, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and Port of Seattle CEO Tay Yoshitani, the plan is to dig a 54-foot wide, two-mile tunnel along the Seattle waterfront.<\/p>\n
Cost? $2.8 billion.<\/p>\n
But wait, there\u2019s more.<\/p>\n
More money specifically – lots of it – and everyone here in the suburbs will have to pony up. That\u2019s the problem.<\/p>\n
Gregoire says the state has the $2.8 billion for the tunnel, but that\u2019s not exactly true. Of the total, $400 million is being jerked back from the 520 bridge replacement project.<\/p>\n
Also, only 1 percent of this project has been engineered. The state says it will pay for cost overruns, but you know what that means – taxpayers do.<\/p>\n
It gets worse, and more expensive, too.<\/p>\n
Because the tunnel only would provide two lanes in each direction, instead of the three lanes each way now on the elevated viaduct, Metro Transit wants more buses to haul passengers. Also, the tunnel won\u2019t allow connections to some Seattle neighborhoods. That means more buses still.<\/p>\n
To pay for this, Metro wants the county to impose 1 percent motor-vehicle excise tax on everybody in King County. You say you have a car worth $20,000? Get ready to be soaked $200 to let Seattlites drive underground. (Oh, by the way, you won\u2019t get to vote on this, either.)<\/p>\n
The Port of Seattle is looking to chip in $300 million for an interchange in Sodo that would benefit waterfront freight traffic. Since the Port collects taxes from everyone in King County, you\u2019ll pay for this, too.<\/p>\n
All of this assumes there won\u2019t be glitches along the way. We wonder.<\/p>\n
Already Speaker of the House Frank Chopp – from Seattle, by the way – is comparing the tunnel to Boston\u2019s Big Dig, where cost overruns push the final figure to $14 billion.<\/p>\n
While Seattle\u2019s project isn\u2019t as big, cost overruns are a warning that should be considered.<\/p>\n
Finally the push for a tunnel is basically to make the Seattle waterfront pretty. That\u2019s fine, but Seattle residents should pay the extra costs involved and leave suburban pocketbooks alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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