Mayor McGinn feels gratified WA not asking Seattle to cover tunnel toll shortfall
Jun 28, 2012, 10:26 AM | Updated: Oct 11, 2024, 1:27 pm
With the portion of |
Mayor Mike McGinn says he’s pleased he made it clear
Seattle won’t be on the hook for the tolling shortfalls on
the viaduct replacement project.
Since the beginning, the mayor was wary of the tunnel
replacement project because he predicted cost overruns
could end up in the city’s lap.
“I was working hard to get a better deal that we wouldn’t
have to pay the cost overruns, and I was a little bit
gratified to learn that in the last legislative session
when they were $200 million short, they didn’t come
knocking on our door,” McGinn tells 97.3 KIRO FM’s Ross and Burbank.
Originally, around $400 million of the cost for the
highway 99 viaduct replacement tunnel was supposed to come
from tolls. When it was determined that number might not
be realistic, the state cut that goal to $200 million, but
the extra $200 million still had to be covered.
“They found it in state money,” explains McGinn. “The
state
Legislature appropriated $200 million more dollars for the
tunnel, money that, if you read the paper [The Seattle
Times] this morning, could have gone to other projects
around the state.”
The Seattle Times
report continues to say that even with a goal of
raising $200 million in tolls, instead of $400 million,
around a 42 percent diversion rate is expected for
vehicles that would have taken the roadway if it was
untolled.
“The Highway 99 tunnel traffic numbers raise a question
about whether the state must siphon money from other
projects again, or hope for a future tax hike, if the
tunnel is to accomplish a fundamental purpose of
preserving traffic mobility,” says the report in the
Times.
“But the City of Seattle, we were assured we weren’t going
to have to pay anymore on this thing,” says McGinn,
repeating again, “We were assured on that.”
Listen to McGinn’s full interview on Ross and Burbank:
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By JAMIE GRISWOLD, MyNorthwest.com Editor
