Grist's Dave Roberts chats with Cary Moon, one of the key opponents to Seattle's version of the Big Dig, a tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Moon, urbanists, and environmentalists are supporting a multi-modal, surface boulevard alternative.
"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
Read the full story: Seattle’s impending car-centric mega-tunnel: a chat with urbanist Cary Moon
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