Consider tolls, not higher tax, for viaduct, Gregoire says

OLYMPIA — Gov. Christine Gregoire said Monday she opposes increasing the gas tax any further to help cover the cost of replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Gregoire said she thinks Seattle and the state might need to look at charging tolls instead.

"Rather than saying we're going to use the gas tax and everybody in the state is going to pay ... it's really about those who use it pay," Gregoire said.

Gregoire said she had not decided whether she favors replacing the aging viaduct with another elevated structure or with a more expensive tunnel. She said she will announce that decision before the Legislature convenes in January.

"I do not want to go into the legislative session with this up in the air," Gregoire said.

The price tags for both alternatives have grown substantially. The estimate for a new elevated structure has grown from about $2.4 billion to about $2.8 billion, according to a state report released last week.

Cost projections for building a tunnel grew by $1 billion — to as high as $5.5 billion, although the state Department of Transportation says its "likely" figure is $4.6 billion.

Gregoire and state lawmakers last year approved a 9-cent-per-gallon gas-tax increase as part of a transportation-improvement package that includes more than $2 billion for the viaduct.

Gregoire said she thinks the state is responsible for covering about $460 million in increased costs — the amount needed to replace the viaduct's current capacity on an elevated structure.

"That's great news," said Marianne Bichsel, a spokeswoman for pro-tunnel Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels. "When she [Gregoire] and the mayor met last week, the governor clearly indicated that all options are still on the table."

Gregoire said she had not ruled out the tunnel as an option, but she said the state would not be picking up the extra costs.

An additional $460 million from the state would improve on the existing Nickels funding plan, Bichsel said.

Nickels has been trying to find an extra $2.2 billion for a tunnel through tolls, local taxes, utility fees, a regional highway tax on the 2007 ballot, and other means.

If the governor endorses a tunnel this year, the city and state ought to move forward into design and utility-relocation work in 2007, said Bichsel, who said the experts cited delays as a serious cost risk.

"We need to proceed," she said.

That would mean forging ahead on a tunnel before some funding sources are secured — $200 million from the Port of Seattle, an $800 million share of a proposed regional ballot measure and $250 million in downtown property taxes.

Even those amounts wouldn't move the project to its top-end estimate of $5.5 billion.

And if the governor backs an elevated highway, "we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Bichsel said.

In a 7-1 vote last week, the Seattle City Council declared that a tunnel is its preferred alternative.

The council also decided against putting the issue up for a public advisory vote, a move criticized by the governor.

"I would like to have heard from the citizens of Seattle," Gregoire said.

Ralph Thomas: 360-943-9882 or rthomas@seattletimes.com. Seattle Times staff reporter Mike Lindblom contributed to this report.