Nickels' street projects plan hits roadblock
Questions on financing delay action in council
Mayor Greg Nickels' new financing plan for the Mercer and South Spokane Street improvement projects raised a long list of questions Tuesday at City Hall, prompting members of a key City Council committee to postpone action for at least two weeks.
Members asked whether these are the right projects and what the likelihood is that the city could find more state and federal money to help pay for them.
City Councilwoman Jan Drago, chairwoman of the Transportation Committee, wouldn't predict whether the committee and the full council will approve the plan.
"It's a big 'ask,' " she said.
The mayor proposed a new plan to raise $274 million for the two projects after the failure of last fall's three-county transportation measure, Proposition 1. That measure included $373 million for Mercer and Spokane Street Viaduct widening work and for a new rail crossing on South Lander Street.
All are intended to improve cross-city traffic flow to downtown, particularly during construction work on the Alaskan Way Viaduct. The city has since shelved the Lander Street project and focused on the Mercer and Spokane work, which Nickels has called critical to easing two traffic bottlenecks.
His new plan calls for using cash from a voter-approved 2006 city transportation levy and from recently enacted parking and employment taxes to raise $120.2 million in bonds for the two projects.
The plan would have city agencies pay $26 million in utility relocation costs for the Mercer project and would attempt to raise a $97.1 million from the federal and state governments.
An additional $36.2 million would be raised for the Mercer work from adjacent landowners, possibly in the form of development mitigation fees or construction easements.
Administration officials say this could be done without using money from other projects promised in the 2006 levy or from the city general fund. They say they have commitments for $87.8 million for the two projects.
But one committee member, Richard McIver, wondered whether the two projects would be enough to spread traffic through the city that's diverted from the Alaskan Way Viaduct once its replacement is being built. McIver said improvements may also be needed on the surface Alaskan Way to handle the construction traffic.
And, "we've got other neighborhoods that need (transportation) work," he said in an interview.
Gene Hoglund, a board member of the Magnolia Community Club, told the committee the club is urging the city to spend money to replace the earthquake-damaged Magnolia Bridge "before a slide or an earthquake takes it down."
A city study said the Mercer project would save drivers a few minutes heading west from Interstate 5 but actually lengthen the eastbound drive. Hoglund, speaking to the committee, argued, "It's not going to improve traffic flow."
City officials have disputed this, saying the Mercer widening would benefit all modes of travel. Responding to McIver's question about I-5, city Transportation Director Grace Crunican said the projects are designed to make cross-city travel as convenient as possible and "we're trying to get (traffic) out of the way of construction" on the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
But the council's staff has raised several other questions to explore. Among them is the risk of seeking other government grants. A council staff memo said the mayor's plan "indicates that the remaining external funding gap for Spokane and Mercer will not close prior to beginning scheduled construction."
Council staff members said they plan to analyze the city's past successes in receiving transportation grants, examine why the Mercer and Spokane projects were given high priority and identify other projects that might need money as well.
The committee will discuss the proposal again April 15.
The city plans to begin the Mercer widening work and most of the Spokane Street project by the second quarter of next year. Separately, it says it has the money for a new ramp to Fourth Avenue South from the Spokane Street Viaduct and plans to begin building the ramp this fall.
Costs of both projects have risen dramatically since last year, with the increases attributed by Crunican to generally escalating construction costs.
The Mercer project's estimated cost has increased by 40 percent, from $137.3 million last year to $192.9 million now. Spokane Street improvement costs have risen 9 percent, from an estimated $154.3 million last year to $168.5 million now.
The estimated price of the Lander Street crossing has more than doubled since last year, from $71.2 million to $152 million.
