Opposing Seattle's Big Dig Project

"One of the major forces behind the surface option is a rising star in Seattle progressive politics, Cary Moon, whose People's Waterfront Coalition has done more than any other group to demonstrate that there is a viable alternative to car-centric madness," writes Roberts.

Moon lays out the history of the movement to "replace Seattle's crumbling Alaskan Way Viaduct, a two-mile-long elevated stretch of State Route 99 running along the city's waterfront", starting with the 2001 earthquake. He points to The Embarcadero in San Francisco and a freeway replacement in Seoul, Korean as examples to emulate.

"DR: That's always been Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn's ace in the hole against the tunnel, right? Cost overruns? [McGinn was elected in November 2009 on an anti-tunnel platform.]

CM: Politically, that is what gets people the most irritated, that WSDOT picked this project and then said they're only going to pay a certain amount and the citizens of Seattle will pick up the rest."

Thanks to Grist