They just don't dig mayor's tunnel

In the slam-jam politics of transportation, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels had it coming. As the mayor played every angle to coerce the region into supporting an expensive tunnel as the replacement for the defective Alaskan Way Viaduct, state lawmakers decided to tell him he is not in charge.

The House Transportation Committee voted 26-2 this week to remove the tunnel from planning consideration unless Nickels can show within a month he has raised the money needed for the project. That leaves a more-basic, more-affordable rebuild as the likely option.

If the full House and Senate go along — big ifs — Nickels will not be able to force the region to buy into his expensive tunnel, which is exactly what he tried to do.

A few weeks ago, Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis let slip that he would try to remove the simple viaduct replacement from planning by the end of this month. It is too expensive, he argued, to proceed with two design processes at the same time. That may be, but it was a political stunt designed to remove the more-affordable replacement from consideration.

Coming right back at him was state Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, a Seattle Democrat, whose amendment passed the transportation committee Tuesday. The amendment says that after April 1, the only viaduct project that can proceed is one "for which full funding is appropriated, earmarked or in hand." That is legislative lingo for a replacement, against an overpriced tunnel.

The mayor is strongly committed to a tunnel that would, in his mind, correct an architectural mistake of the 1950s: the viaduct separating the city from its central waterfront. The tunnel would cost between $3.1 billion and $3.6 billion, if you buy the mayor's estimates, and many lawmakers do not.

The tunnel is a lofty goal, a beautiful design. It also is too expensive, and delays resolution of the viaduct fix too long. Remember, replacing the viaduct was one of the most compelling arguments for voters to retain the gas-tax increase passed by the 2005 Legislature.

Initiative 912, by now a lingering bad smell, would have eliminated $2 billion (a little less than what is needed) committed to a viaduct replacement. Many voters around the state who typically do not support taxes took a leap of faith and retained money for roads and infrastructure. They didn't want Washington to be caught like Louisiana, which failed to improve its faulty infrastructure before disaster hit.

The implied bargain for voters was that the viaduct would be fixed in a reasonable time. In pushing for a tunnel, the mayor has slowed things down by bringing on a big, intramural fight.

In a region with numerous million- or billion-dollar transportation must-do items — Highway 520, Interstate 405, Highway 167 and on and on — it doesn't make sense to finance the most deluxe fix for one project and leave limited funds for the others.

The mayor has been trying to line up money for the project. His list includes $2 billion from the state from the gas-tax increase, federal funds, a contribution from the Port of Seattle and city money. He was buoyed when he and his staff tentatively reached agreement for $800 million to come from a regional transportation package expected to go before voters in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties this year or next, if ever. The regional package had long been envisioned as a companion to the state gas-tax increase.

Speaker of the House Frank Chopp, a Seattle Democrat, doesn't want his troops running for re-election this year saddled by an expensive regional package that includes funding for the tunnel.

Chopp says he doesn't see how to raise billions for the tunnel and he doesn't buy the cost estimates, anyway.

The powerful chairwoman of the House Appropriations Committee, Helen Sommers, another Seattle Democrat, strongly opposes the tunnel. She worries businesses in her district in Magnolia and Ballard might not be able to use it. A pragmatist, she wants to build what can be accomplished in a reasonable time — in other words, a rebuild. When Helen speaks, lawmakers listen.

Voters, meanwhile, have a right to wonder: If the viaduct is so important, when will there be a project ready to move along?

The mayor's tunnel is too expensive and overwhelms funding for other projects. Seattle should not hog so much of the region's limited transportation money. Nickels' in-your-face politics are presumptive and spendy.

Joni Balter's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. Her e-mail address is jbalter@seattletimes.com