Issues - No Deep-Bore Tunnel
In 2007, I was appointed to a panel that was asked by Governor Gregoire and the State Department of Transportation to figure out what to do about the Alaskan Way Viaduct. This Stakeholder Advisory Committee included 29 men and women from a wide range of business, environmental and community groups. The entire process was organized and managed by representatives of the state, county, and city Departments of Transportation (DOT).
We spent a year studying 11 different possible scenarios. It was a great, collaborative process and in the end, we adopted two recommendations. One envisioned tearing down the viaduct utilizing upgrades to I-5, public transit expansion, and investments in surface streets to improve the flow of people and freight into and around Seattle. The second was to rebuild the viaduct. I was strongly in favor of the first alternative.
Unfortunately, it turned out that the Governor, the Mayor, and the King County Executive had something else in mind. Working behind closed doors, they came up with an option that had never been studied—a single deep bore tunnel that would be the largest diameter tunnel of its kind ever built anywhere on our planet.
Earlier this year, Governor Gregoire signed a bill authorizing this deep-bore tunnel project.
The plan will cost $4.2 billion, which includes more than $900 million from Seattle taxpayers. In addition, Seattle residents will have to cover the cost of any and all cost overruns.
I am deeply opposed to this deep-bore tunnel plan. Here’s why:
- The $4.2 billion estimate is at best a hopeful guess. Just 2 percent of the necessary engineering planning has been completed. According to the Washington DOT, “The design of the tunnel is very preliminary . . . and there are things we don’t know yet.”
- Covering the city’s commitment to provide $930 million to the project will require the largest tax or fee increase in city history, and that’s before the inevitable cost overruns start to pile up.
- Oversight of the city’s portion of the project will fall largely on the Seattle DOT. This is the same department that can’t manage basic projects like building curbs, crosswalks, and wheelchair ramps without significant cost overruns.
- Studies show that mega-transportation projects have a dismal track record when it comes to staying within their budget. Oxford University research found that of 258 such projects around the world, 90 percent were over budget, averaging 30 percent more than original estimates.
- The deep-bore tunnel fails to address the city’s critical transportation needs. Designed only to move vehicles past the city center, the tunnel has no downtown on- or off-ramps and it doesn’t meet the needs of 60 percent of drivers who use the viaduct today.
- It also does nothing to improve public transportation at a time when our economy and our environment require a transportation system that is smart and sustainable.
Fortunately, the deep bore tunnel project is not a done deal. The engineering planning is barely underway and no one has figured out how the city is going to come up with its share of the cost. Of course a better plan already exists. The recommendation of the Stakeholder Advisory Committee that I support costs almost $1 billion less than the deep-bore tunnel plan and invests twice as much in improving transit. It would do a better job of moving people and freight into and through downtown Seattle and save hundreds of millions of dollars.
The fact is that the deep-bore mega-project is a deeply flawed plan that will almost certainly cost significantly more than the estimate of $4.2 billion. We need to recognize it for what it truly is: a bad idea and a poor use of city, county, and state tax dollars.
