News Viaduct Press Conference In Olympia
posted by on March 14 at 13:04 PM
Gov. Christine Gregoire, King County Exec Ron Sims, and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels (along with the Democratic and Republican transportation committee leaders from the the house and senate) held a noon press conference today to announce a “collaborative” reaction to last night’s viaduct vote.
Their “collaborative” reaction was that they’re going to work “collaboratively” to “move ahead.”
Specifically, Gov. Gregoire walked through $900 million in safety, upgrade, and repair projects to the north and south ends of the current viaduct. As for what’s going to happen to key portion between King St. and Virginia, that’s going to be figured out “collaboratively.”
Reporters pressed Gregoire to say what’s on and off the table, but she would not.
I asked Nickels, who repeated his mantra from last night that voters had said no to a freeway along the waterfront (and who also said “I will not be advocating for a tunnel”) if House Speaker Frank Chopp’s own elevated alternative (“plan 9”) was off the table in this collaborative process. He said: “The voters were clear. They don’t want a highway. You cannot pretty it up.” Chopp, a key player in this process, was absent.
Erica C. Barnett asked the governor if she agreed with Nickels’s definition of capacity (people and goods as opposed to 110,000 cars). Gregoire hedged, then said she and the mayor were in agreement on all three criteria for any viaduct solution: Safety, capacity, and mobility.
More later.
Now remember kids, yesterday was NO/NO.
In November, it must be YES/YES.
A retrofit then, and then let's see if the surface + transit people have any ideas -- maybe even some sound, practical ones -- beyond "cars are icky."
I'll just pop open a beer and have a laugh.
I believe the correct vote this fall is NO-NO. No to more roads (RTID) and no to Sound Transit's fiscal irresponsibility and lifelong construction projects.
I believe the correct vote this fall is NO-NO. No to more roads (RTID) and no to Sound Transit's fiscal irresponsibility and lifelong construction projects.
In other words they said repair and prepare. Please note (unless I missed it) that the seawall is not on the list of agreed on projects meaning the mayor has not given up on a tunnel.
Pathetic! If they care what people think run a poll - if they don't, then just say so and do it.
Here's an idea for ya...
Surface does not equal cars are icky, m'kay?
Sherwin,
I think the seawall was a make-weight to justify the tunnel.
Sure the sea-wall probably neeeds maintainence. But a complete replacement? GW Bush also has a plan if you like Nickels seawall gambit.
Remember when they were suggesting that the seawall alone would cost 1.2 billion? It was to shore-up (pun intended) the finances of the tunnel.
@7:
The viaduct proposal also included replacing the seawall.
So, Some Jerk, you're advocating a surface six-lane highway, er, excuse me, "boulevard" (because this is Paris, after all). With pedestrian overpasses.
And people say the viaduct cuts off the waterfront.
How is this different that Aurora Avenue? The most pedestrian-hostile street in the state?
They're waiting for the Saturday vote count, Josh. Push them late Friday for quotes.
Mr. Some Jerk,
How would AWB be connected to Aurora?
Yeah, I've never understood that "cutting off the waterfront" argument. A surface street would do way more to cut pedestrians off. And it would boost the noise pollution at ground level, I'd imagine. But Some Jerk's map is a possibility if the surface option is pursued. Although the street could probably accommodate 8 lanes (vs. 6) if all the parking and street car line were torn out.
The winner of Round 1: no/no
The winner of Round 2: Retrofit
Did anyone talk about keeping the extra $1-2 billion on ice for the next five years? Unless they agree to that, a Round 3 is unlikely anytime soon.
This is the Get My Ass Re-Elected Option.
Taking out the parking is the second-most pedestrian-hostile thing they could do, after ped overpasses.
What if they concentrated on trying to make the waterfront an attractive place to go? Then the question of how to get there would force a way to solve itself. What if we had, say, six more ferry lines, pedestrian-only ferries, to places like West Seattle (maybe two or three stops), Magnolia, Ballard Ship Canal, a couple more places on the islands?
chas, monorail failed. Get over it.
Coming just hours after the polls close, and before the final counts are even taken, we see this "collaborative" solution sprung us. Smacks of Bush firing Rumsfeld the day after the November election. If this is such a great idea, why wasn't it shared with voters ahead of time? What's to be afraid of?
The electeds' idea of collaboration is to meet together in camera, with the people kept out in the cold, oblivious to all, with deals cut behind closed doors? Sorry, if this is collaboration, I want no part of it.
Sherwin: The surface boulevard would connect to Aurora exactly the same way the tunnel would have: an elevated structure from Virginia up to Battery.
Fnarf: Sorry, should've posted the cross-section, which shows the proposed noise wall along the shore side of the road. Still room for a nice pedestrian friendly one-way frontage road and bike path.
Further, the pedestrian bridges can widen and slope very gently down to Western, since the streets not connecting to the boulevard can be closed. A nice easy walk from the relocated streetcar to the piers.
In sum, quite a bit different from Aurora.
OK, first - we just had a massively expensive non-binding opinion poll and the clear results were No and No.
Second, I have a sneaking suspicion that we're going to end up with a freeway anyway, ala the monorail where we just keep voting until the freeway people get the results that they want.
But (re: the last graph of the post) the three agreed principles were safety, mobility and affordability (or some such thing), not safety, capacity and mobility.
Some Jerk -- I give you credit for regularly coming to these transportation fisticuffs with something to look at and consider. That's more than I can say for myself.
I do agree with Fnarf and him, however, that the ped overpasses are bogus (not to mention ironic), and Fnarf makes the good point that Seattle with its precious waterfront should make more use of it by increasing ferry transportation. Like in NYC and Boston.
I do like that the street car runs down Western. That road can be as much of a driving short cut as it can be packed because of the pathetic 3-Way stop at Victor Steinbreuk Park. So nuke that and put a street car in; that makes a lot of sense. Both citizens and tourists could use it in-city. Make it one with Allen's Choo-Choo-Charlie train in South Lake Union and it's even better.
Some Jerk:
You're proposing opening up the waterfront by building a 20-foot wall along it?
Nice.
From PI
*Ensure public safety. *Ensure capacity and mobility. *And ensure fiscal responsibility.
1. no overpasses, just stop that talk now.
2. surface solution does not 'cut people off' from the waterfront. there would be friggin CROSSWALKS @ stoplights. see LSD in chicago.
3. dedicated freight/transit lanes take care of the 4000 trucks/day. carrie moon just talked about it on KUOW this afternoon.
4. yes, streetcars - there already is one that's coming back once a trolley barn is built.
5. the seawall needs total replacement along the central waterfront - it is made of rotted pilings with a concrete veneer sitting on uncompacted fill that will liquify in a major earthquake. why do you think the viaduct structure itself is in danger of collapse?
6. could we never mention the retarded elliot bay suspension bridge again?
7. christ on a crutch, let the design professionals come up with something before the peanut gallery starts 'architecting' a tricky, massive urban design problem that one-track minded WSDOT has proven incapable of addressing in an intelligent manner. we need a cooling off period, but the WSDOT plan to move forward with repairs to the south & north allows that POS to molder for 20 more years - save the cash & tear the fucker down. tomorrow.
I was never a fan of the suspension bridge proposal, but why the hell did everyone--even its advocates--always describe it as a bridge over or across Elliott Bay? The bridge was proposed to span the WIDTH of the central waterfront PARALLEL to the waterfront, not cross the bay to another land mass.
So how would a six-lane highway be that much more pedestrian unfriendly than Alaskan Way already is? I took a walk down there last week and there were a pathetic number of crosswalks and stoplights even, or especially, along the primary tourist area.
Hey, I agree pedestrian overpasses are generally underused crap. (I'm looking at you, Galer St)
However, I'm basically proposing an extension of the street grid over the boulevard. Gentle block long slope & full street width on the city side, planters screening traffic noise over the boulevard, and wide staircases down to the promenade.
Basically, the aim is to the lay the groundwork for a full lid, and putting the dick in a box, so to speak.
And I agree the suspension bridge is a dumb idea. If all you want is a downtown bypass, please consult my rebuild remix
Two things were said:
1. Tunnel is dead - stone cold.
2. People want a heck of a lot more transit no matter what happens.
P.S.: Parking on Paris boulevards is mostly in the center and not a lot of it, either.
oh, sorry, forgot to say the correct next vote is to kill off RTID but vote for ST.
So, Will, are your previous comments saying RTID is dead a signal that there is some legislative move to uncouple their fates I hadn't heard about?
Otherwise, your statement makes no sense.
Max,
"5. the seawall needs total replacement along the central waterfront - it is made of rotted pilings with a concrete veneer sitting on uncompacted fill that will liquify in a major earthquake."
Where did you get this idea? Maybe from the same people trying to sell a tunnel?
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