Mark my ballot "pragmatic"

The final hours of the noxious viaduct debate are giving me monorail flashbacks.

Voter frustration with ballot choices, political din and the curious nature of the election itself are fueling calls for no votes, with hints of better transportation choices to be named later.

Maybe a boulevard, possibly some collectors and couplets and certainly more transit. The sun will always shine and trees at the water's edge will never lose their leaves. Life will be good.

All of it gives me a prickly sensation in my amygdala. I liked the idea of zippy monorails, but from the start I had serious doubts the assembled cast of characters could pull it off. This time, the squabbling over tunnel versus viaduct suggests the region could never communally weave together all the elements and pieces of a viaduct replacement that handles 110,000 cars a day.

I do not reside in Seattle, but I rely on a city that works. And my gas taxes are ransomed to any idea that prevails. So I will invoke the first, rarely used dictionary definition of pragmatic: active and meddlesome. My choice in Tuesday's election is to replace an earthquake-vulnerable viaduct with a stouter model, and leave money on the table for a new Highway 520 floating bridge.

Keep the region economically healthy and functioning. And make a concerted effort to do it affordably.

If I had confidence the viaduct could be patched up until a planned replacement — with surface routes that moved people, traffic and freight and genuinely uncaged the waterfront — could be constructed, that would be my first choice. If I could get six-pack abs and a Porsche Carrera at the same time, all the better.

Trouble is, a retrofitted viaduct costs almost as much as a full replacement, according to experts. And I still do not believe the region can be led through the choices to provide meaningful, functioning alternatives.

Tunnels are not worth breaking the bank to achieve. Liberating Seattle's waterfront viewscape does not trump the region's need to stay safely connected to the Eastside via a new, transit-friendly floating bridge. Squeezing more mileage out of tax dollars is a form of conservation, too.

One salutary effect of the viaduct-tunnel melee is a devout desire to avoid another political brawl over Highway 520. State Sen. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, offers evidence of a lesson learned with Senate Bill 6099. He wants to mediate disputes and work toward a constructive, productive consensus.

Murray has an excellent idea: Air differences and frustrations in settings designed to move toward results. Amen.

A new viaduct is a pragmatic choice for a community with other expensive transportation investments that have their own urgency. The cars of the future may be powered by cellulosic ethanol, but they will still be on the road.

Nothing is more elemental or pragmatic than sewage treatment, and the Brightwater site across the line in Snohomish County is starting to take root, quite literally.

Last Saturday morning I invited my wife, the gardener, to join me on a tour of 43 acres of new landscaping and habitat restoration. I might have been a little vague about the setting.

Tours attracted more than 100 people curious about their new neighbor. Brightwater's North 40 was reclaimed from industrial land and turned into ponds, a salmon-friendly creek, trails, red-cedar bridges and five hills sculpted with excavated dirt and anchored with native vegetation. Eight months of work and $12 million for land and restoration produced an amenity.

The site will be popular with nature lovers, walkers and dogs on leashes. About 70 of Brightwater's 114 acres will be open to the public. The business end of the King County treatment plant is the south half of the property, still zoned industrial.

One of 10 people in my tour pod was Tom Gaines, who lives about a mile away. In an age of "not in my backyard," he was a refreshing surprise. He not only sees Brightwater as a practical necessity, but also as a great improvement. Gaines has lived in the area for 40 years, and his old neighbor was an auto-wrecking yard.

By the way, Brightwater project manager Christie True won national honors as a Local Official of the Year for 2006.

No one expects any leadership awards out of the viaduct fight.

Lance Dickie's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is ldickie@seattletimes.com