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The first online-only news site in state history to get media credentials to cover the state capitol and Seattle city hall, PubliCola has been called a “must-read” by the Seattle Post Intelligencer and a hot “New Media Mover and Shaker” by Seattle Magazine—which also cited our own Erica C. Barnett as the city's No. 1 news nerd.

State Announces Winning Tunnel Bid

City Hall, Politics, This Washington   December 9, 2010 at 2:10 pm Erica C. Barnett

Governor Chris Gregoire and state transportation officials announced today that the state has chosen Seattle Tunnel Partners to build the deep-bore tunnel. The team is made up of New York-based Dragados-USA, Kansas City-based HNTB Corp., and Tutor-Perini Corp. STP’s bid was slightly higher than the second-place finisher, Seattle Tunneling Group, but the team got extra points worth $72 million for promising to complete the tunnel by 2015, a year ahead of WSDOT’s schedule of 2016, and for its tunnel design and soil-protection plan. The state’s price limit was $1.1 billion, and both bids came in just under that limit.

“Today it’s time, ladies and gentlemen, for the real work to begin,” Gregoire said. “Competition is what makes us great and this has been a very competitive process. … Let’s get ‘er built.”

Asked about the risk of cost overruns, Gregoire said, “We’re going to stay by our commitment. We are going to be on time [and] we are going to be on budget.”

City council member Mike O’Brien, a tunnel skeptic (he’s speaking for that side of the debate at our forum December 16), expressed alarm at the fact that both bids came in just under budget. “After we gave away a couple hundred million in contingency money, and with these bids coming in right under budget, there’s not a lot of wiggle room for this project going forward,” O’Brien said. “It would have been nice to see them come in a couple hundred million under budget, but it’s pretty clear that WSDOT knew exactly how much money they had to give away.” In October, the state offered the bidders $230 million in incentives, shrinking the contingency fund for the project by half.

Asked whether an initiative filed this morning by tunnel opponents (which says the city can’t sign any agreements with the state on the tunnel until the state agrees to pay for overruns) would stall the city council, which plans to sign three tunnel agreements early next year, O’Brien said, “I think the initiative is an opportunity for Seattle citizens to step forward and say we need to figure out cost overruns before we move forward” but said he didn’t know whether the council would delay signing the agreements until after a vote on the initiative.




  • Sandman

    Asked whether an initiative filed this morning by tunnel opponents (which says the city can’t sign any agreements with the state on the tunnel until the state agrees to pay for overruns) would stall the city council, which plans to sign three tunnel agreements early next year, O’Brien said, “I think the initiative is an opportunity for Seattle citizens to step forward and say we need to figure out cost overruns before we move forward” but said he didn’t know whether the council would delay signing the agreements until after a vote on the initiative.

    Looks like it didn’t take Mike O’Brien very long to learn how to obfuscate like a real politician. He (and everyone else) KNOWS the Council will certainly not wait until a vote on the Initiatives before signing off on the tunnel.

    Today is an excellent day for the City of Seattle. We now know that the ancient, dangerous and repellent AW Viaduct will be history and that our waterfront will be turned into a world-class promenade without loud traffic roaring overhead. This will bring families with kids, young people, tourists, and grandparents to an exciting and beautiful centerpiece to our City on the Bay. Congrats to our visionary leaders who’ve found a way to make this work. This is the first day of a new Seattle.

  • Billy

    Sandman – How much is Ron Judd paying you?

  • delridge

    probably more that McGinn is paying you

  • Anonymous

    Yeah it would have been nice if the bids had been 20% underbudget, but since we live in the real world, that just wasn’t going to happen.

    The budget was not set randomly, but was based on what the state thought it was going to cost. Considering that both the state and the bidders were looking at the exact same data its not surprising they came to about the same number.

  • Tyler

    Don’t forget about the $200 million the state gave away just to make sure these two bids came in “under budget.”

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/6SAQ6R2ZBGQQNNBXVJZG66K6KY Mickymse

    True… but the key factor here is that WSDOT has ALREADY given away contingency monies in order to stay under the spending cap. That’s before final design or construction has even begun on a project with a 40% chance of going overbudget.

    If you like those odds, then I know a number of contractors who would love to “bid” on a remodel of your kitchen.

  • http://manywordsforrain.blogspot.com/ Mr Baker

    Just so I have this right, Mike OBrien is alarmed that the bid is really close to… the estimate.

    Hey Mike, maybe the estimating methods used are sound and the estimate is … accurate.

  • Anonymous

    I heard on KUOW that the tunnel design proposal by the winning bidder is actually 2 feet larger than what the specifications called for. Nice bonus, but of course Erica would never note any facts that contradict her pathological fixation.

  • Jeez

    OMFG….O’Brien

  • Natehc

    Yeah, this is a great day. The project we build will significantly increase traffic on Seattle surface streets, and carry less people within the tunnel than the Ballard bridge.

    They haven’t even figured out how much money they will get from tolls,
    For the same amount as this tunnel, we could build light rail to all the neighborhoods that use the tunnel, but whatever, lets through away $4 billion.

  • Natehc

    Close to the estimate, after WSDOT gave away over 200 million to the contingency fund, to make sure it comes under budget.

  • Anonymous

    [gif] That’s a ridiculous assertion, considering both bids were within 0.02% of each other and the total. The cost of concrete and steel fluctuates more than that in a day, let alone less solid costs like engineering design.

    Of course the bids were the same as the maximum – that’s good business. The contractors weren’t really competing on price, they were competing on value – the points assigned by WSDOT. The winning bid increased the size of the tunnel to win the bid – this allows them the maximum overall size project while being more attractive a design (in WSDOT’s eyes) than the other guy.

  • Mocha

    OBrien reminds me of Ralphie’s little brother in A Christmas Story.

  • Barleywine

    You’re sleeping with Fred, johnmocha.
    I don’t know how that fits in with A Christmas Story, but he’ll shoot your eye out if you don’t stop. You don’t want that.

  • Seriously?

    Wow.. I didn’t know we could just use the gas tax money that the people accros the state have been paying over the last decade, and spend that money on transit for Seattle neighborhoods. Was that an option??

    Answer (NO). WSDOT is bound to spend that tax money on State highway projects – not neighborhood transit connectivity.