Nickels supports public vote on viaduct

OLYMPIA — The Democrat-controlled state Legislature adjourned for the year late Wednesday after agreeing to let Seattle voters weigh in on whether to rebuild the Alaskan Way Viaduct or replace it with a tunnel.

The viaduct measure, part of a larger package dealing with regional transportation issues, requires the City Council to either put the choice directly before voters or make the decision on its own.

Either way, a decision has to be made by November.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, who is pushing hard for a tunnel, said he welcomes a public vote. "We'll go out in November and ask what the citizens think. They'll say no to the Big Ugly, and vote to do it right."

Three council members contacted Wednesday — Nick Licata, Richard Conlin and Jan Drago — said they also could support going to the ballot.

After passing the Senate late Tuesday, the transportation legislation cleared the House Wednesday on a 70-28 vote.

"All I'm trying to do here is move things along. I want the viaduct replaced and the Highway 520 bridge replaced," said Gov. Christine Gregoire, who proposed the viaduct plan. "Time is not on our side."

The viaduct, which was damaged in the 2001 Nisqually earthquake, is part of Highway 99. Whatever option the city or voters decide will be taken up by state and federal officials, who will make the final determination.

But a vote would carry great weight.

"As a practical matter, everybody understands the importance of listening to people," said state Transportation Secretary Doug MacDonald. "No way will we say we would be indifferent to something the people say. I can't imagine the vote isn't going to be pretty darned important."

Ending their 60-day session a day ahead of schedule, Democrats heaped praise on themselves for resolving several big issues that for years have confounded the Legislature.

"I've seldom walked away from a session feeling such a sense of satisfaction," said Senator Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane.

Minority Republicans, for their part, complained they were often left out of the process by the majority party and said Democrats showed little fiscal restraint and didn't go far enough in cracking down on sex offenders.

The end-of-session celebrating began several hours before the final gavel fell. In the Senate, lawmakers enjoyed wine, beer and finger food provided by 46 individual lobbyists, along with Boeing and Weyerhaeuser.

The House, meanwhile, took an early evening break so Republicans could attend a previously planned reception at a lobbyist's house a few blocks from the Capitol.

It was a busy session this year.

Lawmakers passed a gay-rights bill that supporters have been pushing for more than two decades, and reached landmark agreements on water use in the Columbia River basin, unemployment insurance and medical malpractice.

Democrats also pushed through a supplemental budget that sets aside $935 million of a projected $1.6 billion surplus in tax revenue to spend later.

The new budget pushes total state spending in the current biennium to $26.5 billion — a nearly $3 billion increase over the previous biennium that Republicans say sets the state up for future deficits.

With most of the big issues out of the way last week, it looked like the Legislature would end quietly. But the Puget Sound's transportation troubles reared up in the session's final hours.

Gregoire's viaduct plan, which surfaced Tuesday, requires a panel of experts to look over the finances of viaduct-replacement proposals and report the findings by Sept. 1.

The Seattle City Council then has a choice. It can hold a series of public hearings and, by ordinance, decide whether to rebuild the viaduct or replace it with a tunnel. A decision is required by Nov. 1. Or the council can put the choice directly before Seattle voters in November.

The City Council in September 2004 voted for a tunnel as a replacement for the viaduct, with only Licata opposed.

But since then, Councilman David Della has come out publicly for the rebuild option and at least two council members have said they want to explore removing the viaduct and not replacing it.

When council members voted for the tunnel two years ago, Conlin said, "most of us were compelled by the sense that this would be a wonderful thing for the waterfront. At this point, I don't know the outcome would be any different."

Still, he said, the issue should go to the voters.

Conlin and Licata, who is council president, also suggested that voters be given the no-replacement option, too. That's the alternative promoted by the People's Waterfront Coalition, a collection of environmentalists and planners.

The state Department of Transportation has said the 110,000 vehicles that now use the viaduct each day would choke Interstate 5 and Seattle's surface streets.

State officials have said there's already enough money to rebuild the viaduct at a cost of about $2.45 billion. However, the city of Seattle has long sought to build a tunnel. That would cost more money but open the waterfront to redevelopment.

The latest estimates put the tunnel cost at $3.1 billion to $3.6 billion.

City officials say they can put together $3.2 billion for the project, including city utility and street money and $200 million from the Port of Seattle. Raising the additional money, though, could mean an increase in the city's utility rates that would require City Council approval.

The city also is looking to a regional tax package that could add $800 million for viaduct replacement.

Staff reporter Susan Gilmore contributed to this report.

Ralph Thomas: 360-236-8266 or rthomas@seattletimes.com

Andrew Garber: 360-236-8268 or agarber@seattletimes.com