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Tunnel forum at Ballard High on Monday

Posted by Geeky Swedes on March 19th, 2009

When the deep-bore tunnel option was selected to replace the aging Alaskan Way Viaduct, the key issue for many residents in Northwest Seattle is access to and from our neighborhoods. At an open house last month, WSDOT provided this map outlining alternate routes.

On Monday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Ballard High School Auditorium, there will be a community forum to answer questions about how the deep-bore tunnel will affect Ballard. Among the questions to be addressed:

  • How will residents in Queen Anne/Magnolia, Ballard, Wallingford and Fremont access points to the south and downtown?
  • What kind of access will we have to the North end of the tunnel?
  • Will trucks be able to use the tunnel or will they use surface streets?
  • How will travel times through the corridor be affected?
  • Why is an economic impact study so important to our decisions affecting the Alaskan Way Viaduct?

The audience will be able to ask questions of the panelists, which include representatives from WSDOT, City of Seattle, King County, and noted experts in the field of tunnel construction, economics, and traffic engineering.

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  • boardbrown
    Thank God! Finally a story that has nothing to do with...well, you know.
  • david t.
    But how will the homeless be bussed into Ballard by SHARE?
  • mary
    It's a tunnel by-pass, not a route to downtown. It's for shooting traffic past the area, leaving surface streets for local travel.

    I'm all for it. How to pay for it? Yikes!
  • Craig
    This forum will not address any of the real questions that we should all be asking when making a 75-100 year $4 Billion infrastructure investment. As a Society and a City we are facing the problems of energy scarcity (peak oil), climate change (it's here, now, and its's already worse than we expected), the declining health of Puget Sound, traffic congestion that negatively impacts our local economy, enormous budget shortfalls and an economy in shambles. In 50 years how do we look our grandchildren in the eye and explain that we knew about all of these problems yet we decided to spend $4 Billion on a tunnel that did nothing to address energy scarcity, climate change and the health of Puget Sound; gave us fewer options for getting around our community, did not present an efficient use of tax-payer $$$ and negatively impacted our industrial community that provides thousands of living-wage jobs?
  • Goofy Norwegian
    Great, another panel. How many more blue ribbon committees/oversight boards are to follow? Then after this, they'll then tell us how to live our lives, while ignoring what was stated to begin with. By the people, for the people? LOL. The viaduct/520 will have to fall/sink before we get action. Who runs this state again folks? Who has run Olympia for some 30 years now? Some diversity. Thanks libs, for nuthin.
  • pt
    maybe the homeless should be on all of the panels...I think they have time
  • Thankful
    Although I'm going to miss Seattle (I'm moving to the Midwest for work for a few years) I won't miss being here for the construction of this...although it might take that long to even get started on the project...
  • CE
    Why are they going to put a street car on First avenue? Is the S.L.U.T. such a success that we need another one? Give me a break!
  • cyclocrossmechanic
    Wow. Just how wishy-washy is Seattle? Seriously, another #$^&% forum?? How about we have 4-5 more elections while we're at it. Amazes me that in the time Seattleites have been whining/debating this to death Phoenix actually went out and built a light rail system. Amazing considering Phoenix is FAR less suited to light rail than Seattle yet they still managed to get it done.

    I think we really just need a good strong quake to finally knock down the viaduct and sink 520. I really do believe that is the only way anything will ever get done in this town.

    Goofy Norwegian, get a clue. This isn't a conservative/liberal issue. It's an action/inaction issue. Boston is flaming liberal but still did the Big Dig. Portland is liberal and has light rail. Phoenix and Denver are both conservative but still have a light rail. It has nothing to do with liberal/conservative or Democrat/Republican.
  • Anthony
    Jean Drago wants more streetcars, than again she gets around just fine in her 4 wheel drive & does not understand why people had problems last December in the snow. The people running this city are very out of touch with... everything in general.
  • TTTCOTTH
    God I want out of this town
  • chopper_74
    this is exactly what happened to our monorail, talked it to death, and now we don't have a Denny's.
    We don't have leaders!
    'Spineless, effect-less, and beholding to all the wrong people...' yeah, I'll say it again, because it fits like a glove, every time.
    As far as the S.L.U.T. goes, it goes too far in the wrong direction. Big $$$$, small (if any) benefit.
  • david t.
    @TTTCOTTH - Me too! I was all set to move this summer from this whiny, debate-a-topic-to-no-resolution town. Then the economy tanked. Now I'm stuck listening to more topics like a tunnel and bridges while other cities build things and progress. Don't think companies don't notice how hard it is to get things done in this town. I can't wait to move and exult in my Seattle schadenfraude from afar.
  • TTTCOTTH
    David T

    I bought a house in Central Oregon in 2006 and have planned to move there since then. The only thing that keeps me here now is my business which Barack H Obama is doing his best to kill so it may not be all that long. With me go the jobs my business created and who I currently employ, the taxes I pay, and the donations I gave to charitable causes in the community. My closest neighbor at my new home is about 1 1/2 miles. I will enjoy it immensely.
  • Real Ballard
    TTTCOTHH and David T,

    Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!


    :)
  • TTTCOTTH
    Real Ballard

    The padding of my wallet will protect me from any injury the door could possibly inflict. Have fun in the unemployment line!

    Have a nice day
  • Mr. B in Ballard
    Hey Geeky Swede - I'm not clear on who is sponsoring this forum... Is it the city? WSDOT? Could you clarify?

    I don't see what's wrong with trying to get the word out about their intent. I for one am happy with the compromise and agree that the next steps are tweaking exactly this kind of detail.

    @Craig - what is the deal? Haven't you ever heard of a compromise? This does more for "reducing climate change" than that replace the existing structure proposal, and it is less of an impact on the industrial community than the streets option would have been.

    I think it is a good proposal if everyone get some of what they want and doesn't have to sacrafice too much. Isn't that the point of government?
  • david t.
    Real Ballard

    I live in Ballard, the door won't hit me it will hit the bum sleeping in my doorway.
  • biff
    Cyclo- Phoenix (and Boston and Portland for that matter) doesn't have citizens dedicated to opposing progress at every opportunity and hijacking every project to bring non-related issues into the process to complicate and slow a project down. Criag's comment is an epic example of how these things are slowed down.
  • bmvaughn
    Doing this in conjunction with cutting down the number of lanes on Nickerson? Is one hand talking to the other at SDOT?
  • cyclocrossmechanic
    "Cyclo- Phoenix (and Boston and Portland for that matter) doesn’t have citizens dedicated to opposing progress at every opportunity"

    Got that straight! Funny thing is Boston has vastly more items of historical importance than Seattle yet they still manage to get things done. I laugh when people try to claim a Denny's is historically important. Boston was where our nation was born yet they're still able to make progress. There's more history in some single blocks of Boston than in all of Seattle. Come to think of it, has ANYTHING of any actual national historical importance ever happened in Seattle? We've got some great architecture in this town, no doubt about it, but people need to get a clue. Not everything is worth saving. Things need to get torn down from time to time and cities have to change.
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