Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Streetsblog.net

How Seattle’s Deep-Bore Highway Opponents Lost Their Own Referendum

Opponents of Seattle's deep-bore tunnel lost a big one yesterday. A voter referendum they hoped might kill the plan to replace the aging Alaskan Way Viaduct with a massive underground highway went down in a 60-40 vote, following a superior campaign by pro-tunnel forces.

false

We've reported before how this exorbitantly expensive highway project will retrench car dependence in Seattle while exhausting resources that could be used to advance environmentally and financially sustainable solutions like better transit and cycling amenities.

Just a few months ago, energized project opponents handily gathered the 29,000 signatures needed to take their fight to the ballot. While lacking the financial resources of deep-pocket downtown supporters, it seemed the anti-tunnel coalition had momentum and public opinion on their side.

But along the way, the opposition group stumbled while tunnel-proponents found a way to capitalize. Sandeep Kaushik at PubliCola is sorting through the rubble of the campaign and delivers this postmortem:

So what happened? The campaign happened. As the Let’s Move Forward pro-tunnel side ran an effective, disciplined campaign — central message: tens years of debate is long enough, it is time to move forward — the anti-tunnel forces floundered, making a series of strategic and tactical errors that damaged their cause.

Their voter guide statement promised that a no vote would lead to “a better solution” but they completely avoided even a hint of what that solution might be. That 8-page Protect Seattle Now insert in the Times? It begins with the all caps headline, “SEATTLE, WE CAN DO BETTER THAN THIS,” but nowhere in the brochure did they provide any mention of what they meant by “better.”

I wish surface-transit supporters had been more forthright, and put a measure on the ballot that offered a clear choice between their preferred option and the tunnel. I understand why they didn’t do that. They believed that they would have won fewer votes if they were open about the solution they supported. But they might have won mine.

Perhaps the pro-transit, pro-livability forces in Seattle should have heeded the lessons from this Mineta Transportation Institute study [PDF] on success factors in transit referendums, which emphasizes the importance of a savvy marketing campaign.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Copenhagenize compiles an exhaustive list of research showing that bike infrastructure is valuable and effective, then contrasts it with the paltry, inconsistent and partisan counter-evidence. Cap'n Transit asks what it would take to make New York's rail transit operate at a profit, like Hong King's system. And Pattern Cities reports on the various groups installing swings to liven up random locations around U.S. cities, including bus stops.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Friday Video: The London Neighborhood Where Bikes Outnumber Cars

...and how they got to that impressive milestone.

July 11, 2025

Friday’s Headlines Battle Galactus

Like the Marvel supervillain, U.S. interstate highway system seems to eat up everything in his path. A new book explores how to stop it.

July 11, 2025

New Report Shows Pedestrian Fatalities Drop — But Experts Say Not Enough

The Governors Highway Safety Association report showed a 4 percent drop in the number of pedestrian deaths last year, putting a slow on a dangerous trend — but advocates say the drop isn't nearly big enough.

July 11, 2025

Talking Headways Podcast: Localities Subsidize the State DOT

Adie Tomer of Brookings on how to improve regional coordination around infrastructure.

July 10, 2025

Five of the Ugliest Transportation Policies In the ‘Big, Beautiful’ Bill

Here's a rundown of some of the transportation provisions in the Republicans' reconciliation package, and what they might mean for your community.

July 10, 2025

Viva La Thursday’s Headlines

Why is French transit ridership up 10 percent since before the pandemic, while American transit ridership is down 23 percent?

July 10, 2025
See all posts