The first sign of fallout from Tuesday’s viaduct vote in Seattle arrived a day later in Olympia.
Snohomish Republican Rep. Dan Kristiansen set out to snatch a bundle of gas tax dollars set aside for replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct and stuff it into a new pile for fixing up U.S. 2.
He introduced legislation redirecting nearly $400 million from the big city highway to the rural community route.
“They can’t make up their minds on what to do,” he said. “We can.”
His bill spells out the amount of money needed for seven projects encompassing most of a 43-mile stretch where it seems someone dies in a crash a month.
Kristiansen, who is chairman of the Republican caucus, said he told his colleagues Wednesday and suggested they do the same.
“I encouraged my caucus to suck from the trough of the viaduct. Just make sure you leave enough money in it for Highway 2,” he said.
Lawmakers tend to gasp loudly if one tries to abscond with money from another in broad daylight.
Few will follow suit, but you can bet there are Republicans and Democrats channeling their frustration through him.
The debate is stuck in a paralyzing muck. This week’s news was hearing the head of the state and the leaders of the state’s most populous city and county announce they will talk with each other, not at each other.
This galls those legislators who two years ago chewed their cud in voting to hike the gas tax for a massive road plan, the linchpin of which was a multibillion-dollar check for replacing the viaduct.
In April 2005, it took two days and two votes to happen.
Gregoire earned four lanes of plaudits for applying a coat of gubernatorial-strength elbow grease to smooth the way for passage.
Today, the word from beneath the Golden Dome is that an agreed-upon solution will be had in two years. Regardless, the governor promises to take apart the viaduct in 2012 – assuming she’s still in power.
“I remember her saying, ‘I don’t want blood on my hands,’ ” said Kristiansen, who didn’t vote for the tax hike. “Now we’re going to put it off for seven years.
“If it was so bad and so dangerous, why are they spending so much time worrying about what it looks like?” he said.
It may not last until 2012.
According to a factoid on the state Department of Transportation Web site, structural experts predict that in the next 10 years, there is a 1 in 20 chance of an earthquake capable of toppling the elevated roadway.
This stat has been online long enough to improve the odds that nature will knock that sucker down before any politician gets a chance.
Then the fight will be over who cleans up the mess.
Reporter Jerry Cornfield’s column on politics runs every Sunday. He can be heard at 8 a.m. Monday on the Morning Show on KSER 90.7 FM. He can be reached at 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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