After his walking tour of Maple Leaf this morning, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn had a new comment to make about the proposed deep-bore tunnel replacement for the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
Two speakers at a town hall Q&A following the tour said they oppose the tunnel on Highway 99, and McGinn, long a tunnel foe who most recently said the viaduct should be closed next year for fear of a Japan-style earthquake and tsunami, said his office just received new data about the tunnel’s effect on downtown Seattle.
“The deep-bore tunnel, with tolls, causes more congestion and delay on city streets than any other option,” McGinn told the meeting at Aljoya Thornton Place, 450 N.E. 100th St.
About 108,000 cars and trucks use the viaduct daily, according to our news partners The Seattle Times. In December, McGinn said he’d authorized a study of how the tunnel and tolls would affect surface streets downtown.
We’ll post more about the tour and other Q&A topics later this weekend.
That’s right Charlie, because the best way to get people to live and work in Seattle is to force them onto overcrowded buses they don’t want to ride. You must work for McGinn’s economic recovery team.
“Let them eat cake” – Marie Antoinette
Same for everyone else that has to use a vehicle to make a living, hey Charlie?
So let those stuck in traffic start riding the bus.
SubwayFan,
Two reasons. One, building subways is incredibly expensive and requires a rider and tax base Seattle doesn’t have. Two, the topography. Every city in the world with a major subway system is relatively flat. The closest to a real, local service subway system in a city with our physical features is the BART in the bay area.
Why doesn’t Seattle build a New York style subway? Never heard the idea proposed Why? Coming from the East coast, I think Seattle’s buses suck.
JoeCitizen – Yeah, it’s legal. If it weren’t, Tim Eyman would still be just another crappy watch salesman in Mukilteo.
Seems just a touch disingenuous for a guy who’s calling to demolish the viaduct next year, before any replacement strategy is in place, to claim that he cares about downtown congestion.
The Mayor is also paying $2 a signature to the homeless to solicit his petition for a vote later this summer. I rather give $2o for the homeless to eat for a week.
Is it legal to pay per signature? Doesn’t seem right.
Maybe I missing something here but hypothetically let’s just assume that nobody will pay the toll and all those cars, trucks and buses take surface streets. Other than ending up with an unused tunnel how would the traffic be any worse than his surface street proposal?
He should go fight for the Ballard Missing-Link project and stay out of the way of people that know what they are doing on real transportation issues.
The Rev, ever hear of the term “strawman argument”? Cause that’s a classic, right there.
This sounds like a call for…!
A report.
Read all about the non-existent “War on Cars” if you’ve got the patience to read a report on “alternative transportation planning” and how it benefits everyone. That’s right, including, even ESPECIALLY drivers.
http://www.vtpi.org/carwars.pdf
Regardless, McGinn doesn’t make the call on closing the viaduct, Gov. Gregoire makes the calls on state highways:
“It’s coming down in 2012. I’m taking it down — …That’s the timeline. I’m not going to fudge on it. And if we don’t have some alternative by then, boy are we going to have a mess on our hands because it’s coming down.”
Lol; audience plants.
Let’s get real. McGinn doesn’t care about seismic tolerances or vehicle per hour capacity. Every plan he put forward until now delayed the replacement of the seismically unsound viaduct and reduced traffic capacity. McGinn is an anti-car zealot who is categorically opposed to the construction or funding of any new road project. Along with the special interest group that got him elected (the Cascade Bicycle Club) he’s hell bent on destroying traffic capacity and forcing residents into transits schemes they don’t want. Step one of that scheme is defeating the badly needed tunnel for commuters and transient traffic.