With I-912 thankfully buried, Washington can now go on to strengthen our infrastructure and solving some of our terrible traffic problems.

One of the biggest problems the state faces is replacing 'ye ole Viaduct. The Alaskan Way bastard child. That ugly scar across our city landscape. My daily commute with impending doom... that is, if the big one hits between 9-10am or 5-6pm Monday-Friday. (Note to the Big One. I'll be taking next Thursday off).

Mayor Nickels has let everyone know what he favors - building a tunnel. And, to be honest, that sort of long-term 100 year vision for our waterfront and our city is probably the biggest reason I voted for Nickels.

The gas tax will fund nearly 2/3rds (or $2 billion dollars) of the cost of building a tunnel. Now, $1 billion dollars isn't easy to come up with. However, if you've been reading the papers or listening to KUOW like I have, you'd probably think all of that money was going to have to be raised by the residents of Seattle.

You can imagine my surprise today when I read this side bar in the Seattle Times:

Here are some possible sources of the additional money needed to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a tunnel:

$200 million from the Port of Seattle.

Up to $300 million from city utilities for the relocation of water, power and sewer lines carried by the viaduct.

Up to $250 million from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to replace the seawall.

About $200 million from the city's own transportation fund.

That's a lot of cash. And it doesn't even include the $220 million that we will be getting from the Federal government now that we haven't repealed the gas tax.

Take a trip to your calculator and you'll find that if the Seattle Times' figures are correct, we could possibly already have enough money to replace the Viaduct with a tunnel.

Of course, I don't expect all those numbers to be exact. So, how would Seattle pay for the shortfall?

The best idea is to extend the MVET past the two years it will require to pay off the Seattle Monorail Project debt. According to SMP, the MVET tax netted $45 million in 2005.

Extending the MVET for a few years after the monorail debt is paid off to make up for the shortfall in funding a Alaskan Way Tunnel will likely be approved by Seattle residents if they see all of the benefits of the tunnel option.

Allied Arts supports the tunnel option. Take a look around their site and see why the tunnel option is one that will improve our city for generations to come.

City of Seattle Mayor's Office - Alaskan Way Tunnel
Seattle Times - Gas tax stays, but don't expect big road projects to get going soon
Seattle Times - House approves bill with $220M viaduct pledge
Monorailtax.org - 2005 MVET Revenue
Allied Arts - Viaduct Environmental Impact Statement Comments