Tunneling out

To vote or not to vote, that is the question — at least for a few members of the Seattle City Council, who fear that voters might kill replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a tunnel.

In December, Gov. Chris Gregoire called on the council to hold an advisory public vote on whether to replace the aging viaduct with a new elevated structure (for which the state has already alloted $2.4 billion) or whether Seattleites will guarantee digging into their own pockets to cover the extra cost of a $4.6 billion tunnel.

That’s close to the wording of a proposed March 13 ballot measure that the City Council must pass in special meetings scheduled Jan. 18 and 19 — its last chance to schedule a vote before the governor’s deadline of April 22, when the legislative session ends. Otherwise, the governor has said the state will proceed with an elevated structure.

To prevent that, tunnel supporter Jan Drago, chair of the council’s Transportation Committee, sprang into action. In the first week of January, she called together various parties for discussions with House Transportation Chair Judy Clibborn to find some compromise that would satisfy the govenor — and kill the public vote. But Clibborn, a Mercer Island Democrat, describes sticking points that were just too big for Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis and others in the group to overcome.

“We had a lot of discussion around how to maintain [traffic] capacity and get something less expensive,” Clibborn says. “Then people started talking about smaller tunnels,” and “we just sort of lost our way.”

“I came to the conclusion that it was too little, too late,” she says. “It has a vote looming and a deadline from the governor, and I support the governor.”

—Cydney Gillis