Tunnel Budget: A Moving Target

This week a coalition of social justice groups announced a new initiative to limit the City of Seattle’s liability for cost overruns on the downtown traffic tunnel being built to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

Now, here’s the thing I’ve never understood: what exactly is the real budget for the tunnel?

The local media, including The Seattle Times, the P-I, and local TV news programs, call the tunnel a “$1.96 billion project.” But the Washington State Department of Transportation says the total budget is $4.2 billion.

Okay, so local media must be referring to the City of Seattle’s portion of the project, right? Wrong. Because the state’s portion of the costs is capped at $2.8 billion. When you add $2.8 billion to $1.96 billion you get closer to $5 billion than $4.2 billion.

To make matters worse, my memory recalls that WashDOT’s original estimate was in the neighborhood of $7 to $11 billion. Then they started tinkering with the design and cost estimates in an attempt to make the tunnel seem affordable in comparison with the other options, particularly the surface street option, which was the most affordable option of all.

Instead, we have this boondoggle of a tunnel that seems to have no fixed budget. Maybe that’s because it’s the largest traffic tunnel in history—another fact that gets left out of local media reports.

This week, Gov. Gregoire announced that two companies have submitted bids for the tunnel construction. These bids are top secret, apparently, since she gave no details, other than to say that they both came in under budget. Whatever in the hell that means.

Seattle residents have to remember, however, that while the state’s costs are limited to $2.8 billion, Seattle’s costs are unlimited. Hence the initiative being drafted by the Sierra Club, Real Change News, and other social justice groups. They’re hoping to get their initiative drafted and signature gatherers deployed in time to get it onto the August ballot. Tunnel construction is due to start in late 2011.

Stay tuned.