Seattle council vote maintains momentum on waterfront tunnel

The Seattle City Council voted Monday to cooperate with the state on Highway 99 tunnel design, utility and right-of-way issues, sustaining political momentum for the controversial project.

Construction cannot begin until at least late summer, assuming the federal government approves the environmental-impact statement then.

Council members voted 8-1 to approve three agreements with the state Department of Transportation (DOT), with Mike O'Brien the sole opponent.

Mayor Mike McGinn said last week he would veto the agreements, if approved by the council, because citizens aren't protected against cost overruns. The state's 2009 tunnel legislation includes a clause saying "Seattle-area property owners who benefit" would pay if the project exceeds its budget.

Council President Richard Conlin said the council likely would override the mayor's veto Feb. 28.

The city is making the agreements in two phases — one now while the tunnel still is being designed, and in a subsequent vote before groundbreaking would begin. That's because the DOT needs federal approval of its final environmental-impact statement, to be published in late summer. Councilman Nick Licata, who once favored an elevated replacement for the Alaskan Way Viaduct, supported the agreements. The alternative of "punting" a decision into the future is far worse, he said.

"What's the alternative? Think it through," he said.

Licata said there's no political support for another viaduct, and the state is not offering funds for an alternative strategy involving transit, surface streets and Interstate 5.

So the question, Licata said, is whether the city wants to have some risk of overruns for the $2 billion tunnel or to be certain of spending $1 billion or more on a surface program that might work — or might cause more gridlock and pollution.

Drew Paxton, spokesman for Initiative 102, one of two anti-tunnel campaigns, says there's been a string of broken promises by the state related to the project, and that city voters ought to be able to undo the council's Monday vote if they wish.

For example, he said, the state has yet to fund or authorize a major transit upgrade promised in early 2009; the tunnel's financial reserves were drawn down to pay construction bidders for insurance and inflation; and the viaduct is not coming down in 2012, as Gov. Chris Gregoire once declared.

The DOT signed a $1.4 billion contract last month with Seattle Tunnel Partners, a consortium led by Dragados and Tutor-Perini, to build the 1.7-mile, 57.4-foot-wide passage by the end of 2015.

In the new agreements, the DOT said it would insure the city and cover legal claims against the city — for instance, if a landowner sues for loss of property value.

Mike Lindblom: 206-515-5631 or mlindblom@seattletimes.com