City Hall
Tunnel Environmental Study Fails to Address Issues With Previous Version
The latest version of the state's supplemental draft environmental impact statement (SDEIS) for the deep-bore tunnel fails to address concerns raised by tunnel opponents about the environmental study's emphasis on moving cars, the fact that the tunnel would increase greenhouse gas emissions, and the fact that the state projects an increase in congestion downtown once the tunnel is built.
Moreover, while one chapter of the study does consider the impact of tolling, the study itself assumes that the tunnel would not be tolled. (According to the state, tolls are supposed to pay for $400 million of the project's total cost). With tolls, the study found, downtown Seattle would see as many as 45,000 more cars on city streets every day. Put another way, that means that more than half the people (86,000, according to WSDOT's estimate) who would use a free tunnel would move onto city streets if the tunnel is tolled---raising the obvious question: Why build a multi-billion-dollar tunnel that only about 40,000 people will use per day?
"It's worse than the numbers we were given earlier," says city council member Mike O'Brien, an opponent of the tunnel. Additionally, O'Brien points to estimates in the environmental study showing the tunnel will increase the state's greenhouse-gas emissions---in direct contradiction to the state's adopted goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 50 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. "We're spending billions of dollars to make [the state's emissions] worse," O'Brien says.
Also, as we reported earlier, the state has reduced its contingency fund for the tunnel---the fund that will pay for things that go wrong---to just over $100 million. In addition to the $230 million in concessions announced earlier this month (the state agreed to shift funding from the tunnel contingency fund to cover inflation, bonds, and insurance on construction), WSDOT has now agreed to fund incentives for the contractor to finish the project early; funding for maintenance on the tunnel-boring machine; and funding to repair buildings that settle due to tunnel construction in Pioneer Square. Once all those additional incentives are factored in to the contract, the state has just over $100 million left in "pure contingency" funds for unexpected events (like a boulder in the path of the tunnel boring machine).
Moreover, while one chapter of the study does consider the impact of tolling, the study itself assumes that the tunnel would not be tolled. (According to the state, tolls are supposed to pay for $400 million of the project's total cost). With tolls, the study found, downtown Seattle would see as many as 45,000 more cars on city streets every day. Put another way, that means that more than half the people (86,000, according to WSDOT's estimate) who would use a free tunnel would move onto city streets if the tunnel is tolled---raising the obvious question: Why build a multi-billion-dollar tunnel that only about 40,000 people will use per day?
"It's worse than the numbers we were given earlier," says city council member Mike O'Brien, an opponent of the tunnel. Additionally, O'Brien points to estimates in the environmental study showing the tunnel will increase the state's greenhouse-gas emissions---in direct contradiction to the state's adopted goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 50 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. "We're spending billions of dollars to make [the state's emissions] worse," O'Brien says.
Also, as we reported earlier, the state has reduced its contingency fund for the tunnel---the fund that will pay for things that go wrong---to just over $100 million. In addition to the $230 million in concessions announced earlier this month (the state agreed to shift funding from the tunnel contingency fund to cover inflation, bonds, and insurance on construction), WSDOT has now agreed to fund incentives for the contractor to finish the project early; funding for maintenance on the tunnel-boring machine; and funding to repair buildings that settle due to tunnel construction in Pioneer Square. Once all those additional incentives are factored in to the contract, the state has just over $100 million left in "pure contingency" funds for unexpected events (like a boulder in the path of the tunnel boring machine).
