Port might use viaduct cash to help swing big land swap

The Port of Seattle put funding for the Alaskan Way Viaduct on the table Thursday as a possible way to pay for a grand land swap between the Port and King County.

Chief Executive Mic Dinsmore said the Port could use $200 million it has budgeted to help replace the ailing viaduct, as part of the land transaction.

The Port has other potential funding sources, Dinsmore said in an interview. "We have to look at earnings, debt or other projects being cut or delayed," he said.

But he added: "The other area that has not been talked about is the viaduct."

Dinsmore and King County Executive Ron Sims proposed Wednesday the major initiative: The Port would buy a 47-mile Eastside rail corridor and give it to the county. In exchange, the county would give King County International Airport, commonly known as Boeing Field, to the Port.

Use of the Port's viaduct pledge is far from certain, but it could be the best source of cash if plans to replace the viaduct with a tunnel fall through.

The Port has agreed to pitch in only if the viaduct is replaced by a tunnel, which Mayor Greg Nickels wants.

Commissioner John Creighton said the tunnel may be in doubt, following a Seattle Times poll that showed only 25 percent of residents favor a tunnel. "With the poll numbers, I think that's all up in the air," Creighton said.

But the mayor is still moving ahead with tunnel plans and doesn't see the Port's thinking derailing it.

"It's our understanding that the Port anticipated contributing $200 million toward the tunnel, and we fully anticipate that the tunnel's going to happen," Nickels spokesman Marty McOmber said.

Using the viaduct funding would clear one of the hurdles the land swap faces — the financial one.

But even without that chunk of change, the Port probably could afford the rail corridor.

The Port receives about $62.5 million in tax-levy funds every year from King County property owners. It said Thursday that over the next 10 years, the levy will raise $245 million more than needed for its building projects.

The five-member commission is grappling with whether to reduce, increase or hold the levy steady.

The tax money pays for capital projects, such as improvements at harbor cargo terminals, marinas, real-estate deals, or the viaduct.

Levy money does not go to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, and airport earnings cannot be used to buy the rail corridor. Federal grants to the airport require all money earned there to be spent there.

Dinsmore said the cost of the corridor will be a sensitive negotiation with the owner, BNSF Railway, of Fort Worth, Texas.

The county said it could be worth $100 million to $180 million. BNSF says it could be worth "north of $200 million," according to Creighton.

"There's a lot of room between what BNSF thinks it's worth and what the Port and county thinks it worth," Creighton said.

Dinsmore said there's no sign BNSF would abandon its claim to the 47-mile corridor, which it can do under federal law if the line isn't profitable. The railroad applied last week to abandon a short segment of track in the area, according to a filing with the federal Surface Transportation Board.

Dinsmore ruled out the Port directly buying the county airport because it, too, receives federal money. The land swap sidesteps the federal restrictions, he said.

"It's not a sleight of hand," he said of the swap. "It allows us to do it legally."

Along with the airport, the Port would get other goodies it has long sought:

• Enlargement of a train tunnel at Stampede Pass that would allow double-stacked trains to pass through. This would benefit both the Seattle and Tacoma ports, which send rail cars on that route to the Midwest.

• Twelve acres of waterfront land on Harbor Island, the former Fisher Flour Mill, that the county bought for $8.5 million as a possible solid-waste-transportation site. The Port owns land around the site and could use it for cargo-container storage.

• Another parcel between Seattle and Tacoma that would be used for a new rail yard, where cargo containers could be transferred from trucks to trains. Dinsmore said that piece of land hasn't been identified yet.

Dinsmore said he recommended the commission keep receiving the full levy for the next five years, then see whether it could cut the tax burden or still needed funds for other projects, such as buying the rail corridor.

The Port has sketched out $1.2 billion of building projects it wants to do over the next 10 years at the seaport. With the current levy of 23.3 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value, it will take in $69 million next year and $1.5 billion over 10 years.

Alwyn Scott: 206-464-3329 or ascott@seattletimes.com