Lawsuit filed to stop Alaskan Way Viaduct’s tunnel replacement

SEATTLE — A lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court contends the state Transportation Department is breaking environmental laws by going ahead with a plan to replace Seattle’s Alaskan Way Viaduct with a tunnel.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday by activist Elizabeth Campbell and the group Seattle Citizens Against the Tunnel says a final environmental impact statement, required by law, won’t be finished until 2011. However, it says the state already has started preliminary work on the $1.9 billion tunnel.

Campbell earlier filed a similar lawsuit in federal court. Assistant Attorney General Deborah Cade, who is representing the state in the federal lawsuit, told seattlepi.com that she had not yet seen the county lawsuit.

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