Nobody anywhere in the developed world seems to be erecting elevated freeways in urban downtown areas, but that is one of the two choices now presented to the supposedly progressive city of Seattle. The other is a head in the sand choice of tearing down the current decrepit Alaskan Way Viaduct and letting the streets and transit handle the huge traffic load.
Badly neglected is the option of a deep bored tunnel for through traffic combined with a gracious waterfront boulevard for local traffic. New technologies make a tunnel financially attractive. Building a structure that will have twice the life span of an elevated freeway and produce far more project-influenced tax revenue in a revitalized harbor front also speak to the financial advantages of deep bored tunnels to carry cars and trucks.
The Hobson's Choice from the planners was not at all well-received by the large stakeholders group that has been following the subject and it is very possible that that this week's "decision" will come undone. Then reason--and vision--will prevail. Other parts of the world may wind up admiring our choices, after all.
Crosscut.com, the Northwest online news organization, runs an article by yours truly today on the whole affair. http://crosscut.com/2008/12/12/alaskan-way-viaduct/18705/
