Seattle mayor vetoes tunnel project

A showdown looms on $3.1 billion tunnel would have increased traffic and harmed downtown, according to CNU.

The Mayor of Seattle, Mike McGinn, has vetoed the contracts for the tunnel project that would replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct on the Seattle waterfront, the Congress for the New Urbanism reports. The City Council approved them last week (with only Council member Mike O'Brian voting against the tunnel), so the mayor's veto sets up a potential showdown. McGinn wants to remove the viaduct and replace it with a surface boulevard similar to what was done on the Embarcadero in San Francisco and in the Lower West Side of New York City. Opponents of the tunnel refer to it as Big Dig West, recalling the cost overruns in Boston. Read the full article in The Stranger.

Read the recent New Urban Network coverage of the Alaskan Way Viaduct.