In a Zoom Community Town Hall meeting on 16 November 2020, Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan announces that the options for the West Seattle Bridge are down to two now and a tunnel is not one of them. Sadly.

This is a real disappointment, given that Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) had listed a tunnel as being one of the replacement options only a few months ago.

The video above gives the virtual Community Town Hall on 16 November. There is a lot of pep-talk from which to distill the information. I recommend that you start watching it after 13:30.

West Seattle Bridge has been closed to traffic on March 23, 2020, when it was discovered that the earlier (between 2013 and August 2019) discovered cracks had started advancing at an accelerating rate (see the the advancement of the cracks by clicking on SDOT's blog). According to city officials, the cracks are not caused by maintenance issues.

Mayor Jenny Durkan said "The tunnel was not viable for a number of reasons, engineering, fiscal and other things" over the rejection of an (immersed) tunnel replacement for the the West Seattle Bridge. Also a full (bridge) replacement "took way too long and cost too much". The options left to be further pursued are the so-called "Rapid Replacement Option" and the Repair option. One of them will be chosen.

SDOT Director Sam Zimbabwe says the Rapid Replacement Option would cost $391Million - $522Million with an expected lifespan of 75-100 years. Total ownership cost is unknown. It would be ready in 2023. The repair option would cost $47 Million for repairs and a total ownership cost of $916Million over expected lifespan of 15-40 years. It would be ready in 2022. He reminds that it is an aging structure and cautions for unexpected problems after the repair which would still require a replacement.