Queen Anne and Magnolia are two of Seattle’s greatest places to call home. Discovery Park, the Seattle Center, Kerry Park, Fisherman’s Terminal, Smith Cove, incredible views and distinct neighborhoods define our unique corner of Seattle. I love living here, but know that things are not all perfect in the west side of the city.
Despite being close to downtown and major transportation corridors, we face serious transportation challenges. The Magnolia Bridge stays up with duct tape and prayer, and we’re only halfway through fixing the east side of the “Mercer Mess,” with no plan or funding for the western half. And we could definitely use better transit service.
If we want to help solve our transportation challenges we need to spend our money on projects we can afford that make it easier to get around, improve bus service, and do not threaten our other, more important priorities. All of this relates directly to the heated discussion about how to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
In 2009, politicians cut a risky and expensive backroom deal to pursue a tolled tunnel under Seattle. In the middle of the great recession, they chose a Viaduct replacement option with no exits downtown, and a price tag $1 billion more than other solutions. Since that day, they have refused to have an open and honest conversation about the project or explain how they will address the project’s practical and financial failures.
But the facts are clear: The tolled tunnel is a bad deal for those of us who live in Queen Anne and Magnolia.
We can’t afford the tolled tunnel. The $4.2 billion project already has a $700 million funding deficit before construction has even begun. The state has not approved a plan to raise $400 million expected to come from tolls, and the Port of Seattle has yet to present any plan for how it will raise $300 million for the project.
Even worse, Seattle taxpayers will be stuck with the bill for cost overruns, thanks to a state law enacted by the governor and the legislature. That’s right, state law still puts Seattle taxpayers on the hook for devastating cost overruns like we have seen in Boston’s infamous “Big Dig” and our own Brightwater tunnel that is years behind schedule and hundreds of millions of dollars over budget. At a time when we’re struggling to pay for our basic priorities, we can’t afford this risk.
Washington state’s own analysis shows that the tolled tunnel won’t work. The $7 to $9 round-trip tolls will be unaffordable for most, forcing tens of thousands of cars onto city streets. The state expects the tolled tunnel to create the same overall congestion on our city streets as if the viaduct came down today and we did nothing to replace it. Congestion in Uptown would actually be 6 percent worse with the tolled tunnel.
Since the tolled tunnel is a bypass highway, it won’t help us get downtown to work, shop, or do business. And without a portal on Western Ave, tens of thousands of cars will clog West Mercer and Nickerson to access the tunnel (if they can afford the expensive tolls).
But what about the improved transit service that we need so badly? The tunnel project has no money for improved transit and would make transit service worse when busses are stuck in congestion around the tunnel entrances.
The facts are clear: The tolled tunnel is a bad deal for Queen Anne and Magnolia.
Instead of arguing the tolled tunnel’s merits, or tackling the project’s many failures, tunnel backers simply say we’re too far down the road to reconsider. They say we don’t have time to answer basic questions such as, “How are we going to pay for it?” They try to make this vote about personalities as opposed to facts.
Queen Anne and Magnolia, we can do better than this. We deserve a solution for replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct that we can afford, makes it easier to get around, improves transit service, and does not threaten our other, more important priorities.
Your vote to reject Referendum 1 is the most important step towards a better solution.
Jack Bolton is Queen Anne resident, a transportation engineer and volunteer with Protect Seattle Now.
[[In-content Ad]]