Tasty Tunnel Facts
Since I was given temporary and entirely undue credit yesterday morning for helping to create TunnelFacts.com, the least I can do is give it a little HAC love.  Bask in the pure wholesome goodness.
And as a reminder of the fact that there is a sane, fully vetted, and far less expensive alternative to a tunnel, here’s what the authors of the 2008 Seattle Urban Mobility Plan (pdf) had to say:
We looked at the removal of obsolete highway infrastructure in San Franciso, Milwaukee, Portland, and Seoul, Korea. Our research found that the removal of central, elevated highway structures reduced the number of auto trips in these cities, and did not require a major shift to transit. We found that “spillover†traffic was absorbed by the rest of the traffic system. In fact, freeway removal had a catalytic effect on development in these cities. But the projects were part of a larger strategy, and were very carefully designed. The building blocks of the Seattle Urban Mobility Plan, for instance, were surface street improvements, transit investment, development of an at-grade replacement boulevard, transportation demand management policies, and a Transportation System Management (TSM).