The Troubled Horizon

The waterfront today is charming in the spring sunshine, but across the street the future looks grim. Mayor Mike McGinn has been telling people we can save $1.9 billion by not building the tunnel to replace the Viaduct, but that money would be spent improving transit and other ways to deal with the people who drive on the Viaduct to reach Seattle, instead of passing Seattle.

The only way you save that money is by not doing anything to deal with the traffic changes when the Viaduct is taken down- and if the tunnel isn’t built, that will include a lot of people driving through Seattle.

In other words, you’re basically looking at a six-lane stop-and-go freeway where the Viaduct and parking are today. If you think the noise and pollution makes the area slightly unwelcoming today, think about what it will be like when it all comes down to ground level.

Of course, the chances are pretty good the tunnel will be built, and McGinn’s plan to prevent any improvements in the seawall is probably dead in the water (so to speak). We can only hope, because the waterfront McGinn has been working for would be a pretty grim place- essentially just streets behind the same type of seawall we have today.

You’ll notice there’s no trolley in this picture. McGinn has made no effort to bring back the Benson Streetcar or extend it north to the cruise ship docks, where over 800,000 people landed last year, and not one of them with a car to use.

It can be unpleasant to imagine what McGinn’s neglect and headline-grabbing might do to the waterfront, but it would be even more unpleasant to watch it happen.