The Alaskan Way Viaduct Stakeholders Group will be releasing new cost estimates and potential funding sources for the (ugh) eight remaining viaduct options this afternoon. Of interest: The most expensive of the eight options (and the one that would take the longest to build) is "Scenario F"—a four-lane deep-bore tunnel combined with a pair of north- and southbound one-way streets on the surface, near the waterfront. That scenario would cost an estimated $3.5 billion and take up to nine and a half years to build. Those numbers could put a damper on proposals to simply "bypass" the waterfront by digging a very deep tunnel under downtown Seattle—an idea long supported by Seattle City Council transportation committee chair Jan Drago.

Also of note: The cheapest and fastest options by far were the three surface options (Scenarios A, B and C), which would cost between $800 million and $900 million and take between 5 and five and a half years to build. (Note that none of these figures include non-central waterfront capital costs that would be critical to any viaduct replacement, but particularly the surface alternatives. Those are priced separately as "building blocks" in all of WSDOT's analyses. Improving city surface streets, for example, is estimated to cost between $205 million and $378 million; supplement transit service is estimated between $135 million and $476 million).

The remaining scenarios, in order of cost from low to high, are: Scenario D, which involves two side-by-side two-lane elevated viaducts, at $1.6 billion and 6 and a half years to build; Scenario H, a "lidded trench" (essentially a tunnel that isn't fully enclosed), at $1.9 billion and six years to build; Scenario E, AKA the Chopp Option, which would include an enclosed four-lane viaduct and a concrete wall on the waterfront, at $2.2 billion and seven years to build (more on that option here); and Scenario G, the familiar (and voter-rejected) cut-and-cover tunnel, at $2.7 billion and six and a half years to build.

Viaduct planners also released a list of potential funding sources for the various viaduct replacement components, including a commercial parking tax, a motor-vehicle excise tax, a tax on real-estate sales, and several types of property tax.