Voters in Seattle Reject both Elevated Highway AND Tunnel
Less than a day after voters strongly turned down whether to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with another tunnel or an elevated highway, the Mayor and Governor met and ‘called a truce’. It was clear that the implications of the vote could not be overlooked and despite each option having political backing of both leaders, voters determined that neither is desirable for their city’s future.
Though it was a non-binding referendum, the overwhelming vote against both the Viaduct by about 70% and the elevated freeway by roughly 55% forced politicians to listen to their citizens. And it’s important to remember that the ballot asked separate yes-no questions on each option; in other words, it’s not as if voting no for replacing the Viaduct meant the voter necessarily wanted an elevated freeway. The implication of saying ‘no’ twice means the majority of the voters want neither.
Given the potential political ramifications of carrying on with either option deemed undesired by the voters, the leaders met yesterday to discuss plans to move forward with the less ‘charged’ solutions. Attention is now turned to an alternate plan that had been studied by Smart Mobility, commissioned by CNT and the Congress for the New Urbanism.
The ‘transit + streets’ plan examined the implications of replacing the viaduct with beefed-up surface streets and mass transit, and it found that this option can accommodate traffic and help the region focus efforts in creating more alternate transit options. An urban street can better respond to future transportation changes, and stimulate transit-oriented development in Seattle – at a considerably lower public expense.
“We don’t know what that solution looks like, but we do know it will include transit, light rail, streetcars, buses, biking, walking, it will keep freight moving efficiently and our economy strong,” commented the Mayor in a joint press conference. CNT’s Scott Bernstein responded to the newfound acceptance, “It’s a big step in the right direction for the Mayor and Governor to agree to partner and move forward with a solution that they were opposed to at first as a result of this non-binding referendum.”
One of these big steps is to invest about $125 million in transit, bus lanes and surface arterials to help manage traffic during construction.
July 4th, 2009 at 2:58 am
[...] a 2007 non-binding referendum 70 percent of Seattle voters rejected a tunnel to replace the viaduct. Unfortunately a surface/transit option was not part of the [...]