An update on our original story about the initiative to stop the replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a tunnel.  The head of the Magnolia Neighborhood Planning Council Elizabeth Campbell is circulating petitions in an attempt to gather enough signatures by mid summer to have the initiative approved by the City Council or put to a vote.

The coincidentally-named Initiative 99 was submitted right after Gov. Christine Gregoire, Mayor Greg Nickels and King County Executive Ron Sims announced agreement to build the $4.2-billion tunnel. The petitions and a ballot title were approved this week. 

The initiative, if approved, would prohibit use of public property for a tunnel. Campbell must collect at least 17,968 voter signatures by July. 20.  Campbell expects to use paid signature gatherers as well as volunteers to circulate petitions to registered city voters.

Selection of the tunnel was promoted by a number of downtown and business interests as a way to remove the viaduct from the waterfront but maintain traffic flow through downtown. Campbell supports replacing the viaduct with a cable-stay bridge over Elliott Bay and calls the tunnel plan ”laughable…a toy tunnel”.  

KING5 interview with Campbell here.

UPDATE:  Since there has been much debate in comments below about the initiative filed by Elizabeth Campbell, we wanted to provide more information to add to the conversation. Here is the wording from Initiative 99 that was filed yesterday:

Initiative Measure Number 99 concerns prohibiting use of City property for a tunnel which replaces the Alaskan Way Viaduct. If enacted, this measure would prohibit the City from allowing City rights-of-way or City-owned property to be used for construction of a tunnel that would replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct, or any facilities related to a tunnel that would replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Any authorization or support for use of City rights-of-way or City-owned property for such a tunnel or its related facilities would be revoked, and any ordinances that conflicted with the measure would be repealed.

The formal announcement by city and state officials was barely over when Elizabeth Campbell, one of the founders of the Magnolia Neighborhood Planning Council, filed an initiative to block construction of the proposed underground tunnel to replace the viaduct. She will need to submit at least 17,967 signatures within 180 days for the measure to be acted on by the City Council or submitted to a vote.

Gov. Chris Gregoire and city and state officials made their announcement today with a plan to replace the highway along Seattle’s central waterfront with a deep bored tunnel under downtown Seattle.  The decision was widely reported yesterday.

After 13 months of multiple committee meetings and public hearings, Gregoire said lawmakers decided to go with the tunnel option to replace the 55-year-old, mile-long section of Highway 99 along Seattle’s waterfront. The elevated roadway carries 100,000 vehicles a day and experts say it could come down with another major quake.

The tunnel will likely be a stacked tube with two lanes in each direction, starting at Royal Brougham Way near QWest Field.  It would emerge near Thomas Street, north of the Battery Street Tunnel close to the Seattle Center.  There are concerns about how it will impact travel to and from the Magnolia area. Magnolia drivers may find themselves forced to use surface streets to commute to work or the airport because there are no entrance or exit points at Elliott or Western.  This will mean using a new surface Alaskan Way or downtown streets.