This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.
Two pieces worth reading on the Viaduct-Spokane St.-Mercer St. funding issue. Erica Barnett in the print edition of The Stranger, and Larry Lange on the P-I‘s Traffic Watch blog.
At issue is Mayor Nickels’ attempt to push a Mercer St. upgrade through the city council. Nickels doesn’t have the money for it, but he wants to link it to a rebuilt Spokane St. viaduct as a way to increase mobility when the Alaskan Way Viaduct comes down.
So far, the council isn’t buying, prefering to wait until more funding is secured. They may have a point. To the outside eye, it seems like Nickels is just rushing to get Mercer done so it’s nice and pretty in time for the Vulcan-built Amazon headquarters opening in SLU in 2011-2012, and he’s using the Viaduct as a convenient excuse. But that’s just idle speculation on my part.
That said, costs of a new Mercer St are going to continue go up, up, up. Maybe it is best to float a bond like the Mayor’s suggesting and get to work.
Rendering of Mercer St. looking west from SDOT.
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