“If Washington state is going to keep family
wage jobs, we’ve got to keep freight and goods moving through our region,” port
Commissioner Bill Bryant said. “That’s why the port helped pay for underpasses
and overpasses in the Kent-Auburn valley, and why the Port of Seattle is
fulfilling its commitment to help pay for a reconfigured SR 99 and tunnel.”
Under funding agreement, the port has
committed to pay $120 million on May 1, 2015 toward the tunnel and north and
south portal projects, and $147.7 million on May 1, 2016, for a total of $267.7
million.
The replacement tunnel is expected to carry
State Route 99 under downtown Seattle from the SoDo neighborhood to South Lake
Union in the north. Over 20 projects, including the SR 99 tunnel, are expected
to work together to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct while improving freight
mobility.
Tunneling beneath Seattle allows crews to
replace the viaduct while minimizing highway closures during construction. Additionally,
a new overpass under construction to the west of the stadiums is expected to
allow freight and other traffic to bypass a busy railroad track that crosses
South Atlantic Street, near the entrance to Terminal 46.
The new funding between the State of
Washington and the port fulfills an agreement the two agencies originally
adopted in early 2010.
“This agreement is critical to the successful
completion of the bored tunnel replacement for the Alaskan Way Viaduct,” George
Allen, Senior Vice President of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce,
said in a statement. “By keeping traffic flowing along the SR 99 corridor, this
project maintains the regional capacity we need for continued movement of
freight and other goods between the industrial areas of the city.”
