Rossi's transportation plan would replace Seattle viaduct with tunnel

Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi says he can solve Washington state's transportation problems with a tunnel, two bridges and $15 billion in taxpayer cash.

His critics say that with a price tag like that, he'll need a little magic, too.

In a transportation plan released Tuesday, Rossi calls for replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a tunnel, building a new Highway 520 floating bridge that could ultimately hold eight lanes of traffic, and building a four-lane, six-mile highway from Interstate 5 to Highway 7 in Pierce County.

In addition, he outlined seven other major transportation projects designed to relieve traffic congestion around the state, including widening Interstate 405 from Renton to Bellevue, and replacing the Columbia River Bridge at Vancouver, Wash.

"The bottom line is we need these projects. We have no choice," Rossi said. "We have to do these projects ... or we'll be stepping on our own economic air hose in the future."

Rossi, who is running against Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire, proposed paying for the work in part by spending 40 percent of the state sales taxes on new and used vehicles for transportation projects — a total of $7.7 billion in 2007 dollars projected over the next 30 years.

He also would eliminate state sales taxes on transportation projects, thus lowering their cost.

That tax revenue currently goes to the state's general fund where it's spent on other programs. Rossi doesn't say how he'd make up that loss in revenue, but he says he would not raise taxes or cut programs supporting education, nursing homes and the developmentally disabled.

Rossi also proposes tolls to help pay for the 520 Bridge. But unlike Gregoire's suggestion of imposing tolls on the old bridge early to raise money for the new span, Rossi wouldn't levy his $1.54 one-way toll until the project is finished in 2014.

Tolls would be in place for 40 years.

"I'd like to say he's found the magic way to get all these projects done, but I can't," said Senate Transportation Committee Chairwoman Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island. "It's a really ambitious plan that has a lot of problems."

Republicans were more enthusiastic. Rep. Doug Ericksen of Ferndale, the ranking Republican on the House Transportation Committee, called Rossi's plan "awesome."

Ericksen blamed the current transportation crisis in Washington on Gregoire's indecision, the state's regulatory climate and the "Democratic strategy that congestion can be used as a tool to build more transit."

Rossi proposed funding high-occupancy-vehicle projects on the Eastside by tapping Sound Transit money that would otherwise be used mainly to build a light-rail line from downtown Bellevue to Seattle.

Critics of Rossi's plan worry that it underestimates the cost of some projects.

Mark Hallenbeck, director of the Washington state Transportation Center at the University of Washington, said Rossi's numbers are "completely divorced from reality."

"He lowballs almost all the estimates and never says where all the funds are going to come from. It's a political statement. It's complete silliness," Hallenbeck said.

Rossi says that replacing the viaduct with a waterfront tunnel would cost $2.8 billion in 2007 dollars. But that figure is based on a narrow, mostly four-lane "tunnel lite" concept that the Department of Transportation (DOT) rejected last year as unsafe. The DOT says a full-size, six-lane tunnel would cost $4.6 billion.

And Rossi estimates a new 520 Bridge, capable of being expanded to eight lanes, would cost roughly $3.3 billion. Last month, Gregoire said a new six-lane span would cost between $3.7 billion and $3.9 billion.

Proposals to widen the 520 Bridge have been highly controversial in the past and would probably run into intense political opposition.

The plan does not address public transit, which Rossi says should be dealt with on the local level.

He would spend $500 million for current projects that have run into funding problems or other delays, and $368 million for new ferries and improved ferry terminals.

The plan calls for a handful of environmental initiatives, including converting the state's vehicle fleet to hybrid and plug-in electric cars by 2015 and eliminating the sales tax on the purchase of hybrid, electric and alternative-fuel vehicles for the next 10 years. An additional $200 million would go to widen more than 1,500 culverts around the state that block salmon passage.

Rossi also favors a regional transportation commission that would take over planning powers from Sound Transit, local transit agencies and county councils.

His plan is based on a state audit of the DOT last October that said making traffic-congestion relief a priority would result in increased economic efficiency and $3 billion in economic benefit to the state.

Staff reporter Andrew Garber contributed to this story. Haley Edwards: 206-464-2745 or hedwards@seattletimes.com