
How transportation can transform a city – Seattle's double decker tunnel - pseudolus
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/a-look-at-how-transportation-can-transform-a-city/2019/01/31/da8418de-0ec4-11e9-8938-5898adc28fa2_story.html
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jlj
The new tunnel is a downtown bypass route. The viaduct had a couple downtown
exits, but the tunnel starts by the stadiums South of downtown, and ends by
South Lake Union, with no downtown exits. All of the into-downtown traffic
will be pushed to surface streets. Tunnel tolling will kick in soon too. The
viaduct had no tolling.

The city is pushing a one-time tax bill called a "local improvement district"
to property owners in downtown for the benefit of better views and higher
property values once the viaduct is gone. There is speculation of pulling a
second LID for improvements in the area of Key Arena to coindide with the new
NHL team [http://mynorthwest.com/1242618/dori-rob-johnson-seattle-
nhl/](http://mynorthwest.com/1242618/dori-rob-johnson-seattle-nhl/)

The tunnel may be necessary but it's not all rosy as the WaPo article makes it
out to be.

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rakenodiax
Not to mention the massive cost, the overruns to said cost, the construction
delays...

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jakewalker
The Big Dig in Boston was full of the same overruns, delays, and even
corruption. All worth it.

It's the best thing the city has ever done, far and away. Fundamentally
changed the city and is responsible for incalculable property value and
quality of life improvements in the city.

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masonic
Worth it for Boston, sure. But the _rest_ of the U.S. paid almost all of the
massive cost.

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Steltek
Massachusetts paid for many of it's own interstates before sick a system
existed. You could see that in the old Central Artery being way out of
compliance with standards. A compelling argument was that other states had
their modern highways paid for them by the Federal government long ago while
Massachusetts had done it themselves even before then.

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masonic
I was referring specifically to the Big Dig, as was the parent comment.

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Steltek
Yes. Other states had their highways paid by the Federal government.
Massachusetts had originally paid for its highways itself. The balance came
due with the Big Dig, cost adjusted for 2000.

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munificent
There was an 8k run today along the new tunnel and the soon-to-be-destroyed
Viaduct. Aside from being insanely packed, it was a really cool experience
getting to see the Viaduct one last time on foot and getting to see the tunnel
while it's still shiny and new.

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moonka
This morning was a bike ride that did the same. It was completely awesome.
12,000 bikes tearing through it. One of the best organized rides I've done.

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peatmoss
“Celebrated replacement”? I mean, I just walked through the new tunnel for
it’s public opening as a curiosity, but I’m not sure it’s celebrated per se.

Don’t get me wrong, I am delighted to see the viaduct go, but I’m not sure the
replacement is needed, or really a replacement. I also think that they’re
essentially building a surface level highway along the waterfront, which to me
diminishes what could have been a truly world-class waterfront.

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metildaa
Alaskan Way was a busy 4 lane road prior to the seawall replacement project
and SR-99 construction, the two addes lanes are dedicated for busses.

Really wish we had kept rail along this alignment (rather than letting Seattle
Art Museum destroy the waterfront trolley), but short of that we are stuck
with making busses fast and reliable.

Wrt cutting this down to 1 lane in either direction for regular cars, in the
context of the ferry queues clogging Alaskan Way currently, narrowing the road
would create a waterfront parking lot between ferries.

Running the park down the middle of the road would be enjoyable, Portland has
a few nice parks of that style

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jaggederest
Portland also entirely replaced our waterfront highway with an enormous park,
probably not the precedent you're looking for.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbor_Drive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbor_Drive)

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m741
Out of curiosity, why is this not a good precedent? Were the results bad, or
because it's Portland?

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metildaa
This freeway removal project was generally considered a success, I know I
rather enjoyed the benefits of the new waterfront park in Portland when I was
younger. Lots of good memories!

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maxsilver
I'm really glad to see some cities still invest in unified, balanced public
transportation infrastructure like this. Seattle is a great example of what
all cities should be striving for.

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DaniloDias
Leave Seattle at 1pm. It takes 5-10 minutes to get to 90/I5. Leave at 5pm, it
takes an hour.

It is definitely a great example, but no one should strive to emulate it.

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FPGAhacker
No kidding. Seattle should be an example of how not to plan a city. Traffic is
astonishingly bad given the population.

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tjr225
The Seattle metro is a unique situation that exists outside of just city
planning...we are trapped between various lakes, mountains ranges, and massive
bodies of saltwater - and I don't say this in the regions defense - I have
suffered an insane commute here before choosing to make the sacrifices
necessary to live and afford to live in the city. At the same time the things
that make commuting in this place difficult are what make it precious.

Hopefully ST3 comes to fruition as there simply aren't many more places to put
highways.

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ken
Adding highways isn't the only tool available to transportation planners.
Isn't it interesting how some intersections bog down at any capacity, while
others are busy and still keep moving smoothly?

There are types of lane and intersection designs which never seem to work
well, and I'm surprised that more isn't done to avoid or eliminate them.

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patja
Biggest tunnel boring machine ever and we end up with a tunnel that has the
same number of traffic lanes as the old. Progress!

It does have improvements such as a small provision for emergency vehicles to
squeeze by or pulling a disabled vehicle out of the way, and hopefully it is
resilient to quakes. Still... Lot of expense for the same 4 lanes.

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obmelvin
I don't know enough about this particular project to say much, but if you
Google there are plenty of traffic studies showing that more lanes generally
makes traffic worse, not better.

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neonate
[http://archive.is/08BsJ](http://archive.is/08BsJ)

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viburnum
This thing is trash and never should have been built, but pointless highways
are big business so let's pretend climate change isn't happening and keep
building highways

