Once again, the combined forces of state and municipal government have come up with a solution that pleases no one, costs more than any other option, is wildly complicated, and will take eons to complete. This time the subject isn’t mass transit or athletic stadiums, it’s what will replace our decrepit, old Alaskan Way Viaduct. Elected leaders have looked deep into their hearts and managed to wrest failure out of the ashes of consensus.

The current plan, to be announced tomorrow at an 8:30 AM news conference at the waterfront Trade Center, calls for a deep bore tunnel that will connect the stadium area to Aurora, with access at Royal Brougham and north of the Battery Street Tunnel. Transportation officials supported either another elevated highway or improving existing surface routes: there are a number of current surface routes that are now nearly unusable. The Seattle Chamber of Commerce, among others, supported the tunnel option. I wonder how many of the business owners currently members of the Chamber commute daily between downtown Seattle and points south.

About 100,000 cars travel the viaduct daily. Large commercial vehicles have been off-limits for years, diverting along Marginal Way, due to the frailty of the current structure. Other alternate routes include 1st Avenue South, 4th Avenue South, and I-5. I-5 is a parking lot, and quite a detour for those who live and work along the west edge of the city, while 1st and 4th need major surface and traffic management improvements. Western Avenue and Alaskan Way are also being offered as alternate routes for surface traffic. Both are also overdue for serious maintenance, even overhaul.

^[2]
With all of these “alternate routes,” why do we need a tunnel at all? Apparently, so that sports fans in Shoreline can get to and from football games without ever having to actually see the downtown. The city might as well name the new tunnel the Seahawk Express Chute and ban actual Seattle residents from using it.

Tune in tomorrow to find out how our fearless leaders plan to pay for this white elephant. The deep bore tunnel is projected to cost about $4 billion. The state has $2.8 billion allocated for a replacement to the viaduct, leaving a $1.2 billion shortfall, minimum. Anyone who was around from the beginning of the bus tunnel project can recall how well projected costs actually line up with observable reality. In Seattle’s case, a big part of the bus tunnels’ problems came from the fact that Seattle is built largely on three things: old Seattle, sand, and garbage. Not really stable materials for tunneling through, but maybe the “deep bore tunnel” is really, really deep. Like, Iceland to Italy deep.