On the September edition of Ask the Mayor,  Mayor Greg Nickels acknowledged that the deal to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a 1.7 mile, $1.9 billion tunnel under downtown could be killed.

A viewer named Randy asked, “You worked hard to push for the bore tunnel replacement for the viaduct. How secure do you think that decision is? Could it be undone at this point?”

Nickels replied, “A funny thing in politics is, it’s always easier to stop something than it is to get it done.”

The mayor said that the tunnel plan had broad support from the state’s political class. “We have the agreement of the governor, the legislature, the county and the city that this is the right approach.” He also thought that even among members of the public who would have preferred another option—a new elevated structure, the rehabilitation of the current viaduct or the surface transit plan—there is acceptance that the tunnel has triumphed. They “now say, ‘Okay, a decision has been made. Let’s not refight or redo this. Let’s move forward and then let’s fix the next problem,’” observed the mayor. Because of the political support and the public acceptance, Nickels said, “I’m confident that [the tunnel] will happen.”

In the next breath, however, the mayor added, “But it’s not guaranteed. A person who wanted to kill it and was dedicated to just that probably could do it.”