SEATTLE — Two years after Seattle voters rejected the idea, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels says he has reached an agreement with state and local officials to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a tunnel.
“My goal has been to open up the waterfront,” Nickels told a Seattle newspaper Monday, “and this will do that.”
The agreement reached between the state, the city, King County and the Port of Seattle calls for a four-lane tunnel that would start at Royal Brougham Way on the south end, travel under First Avenue and emerge near Thomas Street north of the Battery Street tunnel.
Gov. Chris Gregoire’s office confirmed that an agreement had been reached, but said details would be shared at a news conference this morning.
“We believe we have a solution that serves all parties and is fiscally responsible,” said Pearse Edwards, a spokesman for Gregoire.
A deal between the city, county, port and governor isn’t necessarily the final word. The Legislature still has a role to play, particularly if more money is needed. And one of the Legislature’s most powerful members, House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, was unaware of the reported deal on a tunnel, his spokeswoman said Monday afternoon.
Chopp not being in the loop is doubly significant because he has strongly promoted another plan, featuring a double-decker elevated viaduct combined with business development and a park “lid” to replace the present highway.
Transportation officials had recommended either another elevated highway or improved surface streets. But other interested parties, including the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, favor a tunnel.
The mile-long section of Highway 99 on the Seattle waterfront is 55 years old and carries about 100,000 vehicles a day. It was damaged in the 2001 Nisqually earthquake.
Two years ago, Seattle voters rejected both a tunnel and a new viaduct.
The tunnel is the most expensive option at more than $4 billion. The elevated and surface plans would cost more than $3 billion. The state has committed $2.8 billion for the project.
More than $1 billion of the $2.8 billion allocated by the Legislature has already been spent on repairs including relocated utility lines, repairing the Battery Street Tunnel and rebuilding the mile of viaduct south of downtown.
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