Gregoire's viaduct challenge

Gov. Christine Gregoire is known for her ability to gather disparate parties in a room and not let anyone leave until agreement on the thorniest issues is reached. The tough, no-nonsense governor forging the big, complicated decisions — at least that's the image she prefers.

Gregoire is staring at one of the bigger choices she will make in her first term, though she probably won't have to do it in a locked room: Should Seattle replace the aging and dangerous Alaskan Way Viaduct with a rebuilt aerial roadway or a tunnel?

This issue has become as loaded politically as any in recent memory, particularly because of the power politicians lined up on both sides.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and the City Council, minus two members, favor the tunnel, as do various former governors, such as Gary Locke and Dan Evans, who are quietly lobbying on the side.

Standing firm against the tunnel are the powerful Speaker of the House Frank Chopp and the longtime House budget writer, Helen Sommers. Interestingly, most people involved are Democrats, so the argument isn't about political ideology, it's about spending money in a way that puts one mega-project too far ahead of other important projects such as the Highway 520 floating bridge.

The question before city taxpayers boils down to this: Are people willing to spend $1.8 billion extra for something nice versus something essential, a new roadway?

The $1.8 billion is the price difference between the two projects. The state has already dedicated $2.2 billion to the viaduct, almost enough to cover the $2.8 billion rebuild. To get to $4.6 billion for the tunnel, Seattleites may vote on a long list of taxes, some of which probably haven't been invented yet.

The tunnel vacuums up so much cash that other projects would have to wait years to proceed.

The governor has the final say — because the viaduct is a state road and the billions already pledged came from the state — but the Legislature can place restrictions on her.

For Gregoire, who hopes to reach a decision by the end of the year, the viaduct could be the issue that haunts her in the 2008 governor's race.

If she selects the rebuild, the more cost-effective option favored by only two City Council members, she could appear to be imposing her will on local government — a governor who meddles in local affairs.

That political calculus pales in comparison to the daunting cost and risk of building a tunnel. The project could be so offensive to people outstate that it looks like Gregoire is favoring the spendy brats in Seattle.

Still, it won't be easy for the state to big-foot the mayor and City Council, who have all but threatened to withhold permits for work done in the city if there is no tunnel.

Chopp and Sommers could be equally difficult. These two don't normally get along well but they have bonded on the more-practical rebuild. The governor has to work with them on nearly every other state issue.

The tunnel is a beautiful idea. If we were designing the city all over again, we would not build the viaduct. But a tunnel at any cost is another matter. The price tag skyrocketed at least 27 percent in one year, from roughly $3.6 billion to $4.6 billion. You get the feeling Nickels is so obsessed with reconnecting the city to the central waterfront he'd insist on a tunnel even if the cost climbed to $10 billion.

I don't know about you, but I don't really have to be "reconnected" to Ye Olde Curiosity Shop and tourists wearing the madras pants and white loafers of a Full Cleveland.

Gregoire sent the first important message that she is thinking about the statewide impact by proposing tolls to pay some of the whopping increase in estimated costs for either project.

In so doing, the governor is saying people who use the roadway more will pay more.

For me, there is another, bigger matter. Mayor Nickels and King County Executive Ron Sims, who is also proposing a tax increase for buses this year, never really lay it all out for the voter. It's this must-do transportation project this year, followed by the overpriced tunnel next year, and, oh, by the way, we have to rebuild 520 the year after. Low- and moderate-income families and seniors are slowly, painfully, being priced out of Seattle.

The idea of a city effectively raising the rent on its citizens compounds the governor's difficult decision. She is a pragmatic leader. The tunnel is charming, but the rebuild is the smarter, more cost-effective, regionally minded way to go.

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