The Onion has an insightful discussion about the deep-bore tunnel:
Concerning the Deep-Bore Tunnel
Should we stop dumping money into a giant hole?
Author: Eric de Place
This article is part of the series Seattle's Great Viaduct Debate
Elisabeth
Why not spend the $4b on public transportation? By the time the tunnel is done, cars will be so over.Ah well. Between the financial bailouts of the Wall street bonuses, the Iraq war and the tunnel, at least we know we’re throwing *all* our money into the hole. Maybe a good barter system will finally get going.
James
“By the time the tunnel is done, cars will be so over.”=======================We will all still be driving cars and riding scooters. The difference is, they will mostly be electric.
Matt Gangemi
Since we’re making predictions, I think long distance transportation will be in sharp decline right around then. We’ll still have plenty of hybrids on the road and high-value truck shipping, but electric won’t have much over a 50 mile range without a significant technology breakthrough. If the tunnel really is only for West Seattle then it’ll still be useful, but if it’s intended to be a highway (what WA is paying for), it will be a massive failure.But maybe once it’s done we can convert it to a train tunnel, with light rail on the top level and heavy rail underneath.