OLYMPIA -- A group of Seattle lawmakers said Monday that it's time to formally reopen discussion of the option for replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct that isn't on this month's ballot.

They want new legislation that would raise the possibility of replacing the viaduct with surface street and transit improvements, essentially by reframing the objective.

As it stands, more than $2 billion of state gas tax money set aside for the viaduct can be spent only on options that at least maintain the viaduct's 110,000- vehicle-a-day capacity.

Seattle Reps. Jim McIntire, Jamie Pedersen, Joe McDermott and Eric Pettigrew would like the goal to be maintaining capacity for moving people and goods -- not just vehicles.

"We feel that the voters of Seattle should have a voice in determining the design of its transportation system, the quality of its downtown environment, and the vitality of its waterfront," they said in a letter to House Transportation Chairwoman Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island.

"We believe that a combination of surface and transit improvements can effectively replace the viaduct as a means of providing the same capacity for moving people and goods about and through our city. We offer this proposal as a means of moving forward in a cooperative basis."

As a March 13 Seattle election looms with the possibility that both an elevated rebuild or a more expensive tunnel could be voted down, the surface option is gaining momentum.

The letter comes after Seattle City Councilman Peter Steinbrueck said last week he wouldn't seek re-election but would instead work to make the surface street option a reality.

And King County Executive Ron Sims and several City Council members support the surface transit option.

But Gov. Chris Gregoire and legislative leaders in Olympia have ruled out the plan because they say it would cause gridlock on Interstate 5 from diverted vehicles.

Gregoire has said she is working with Sims to come up with more robust transit service in the corridor, but she maintains that the elevated replacement is the only viable option.

Some leaders agree with Sims that it is the first choice for replacing the viaduct; many others including Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, see it as the natural fallback position in the face of a double no at the ballot.

Sen. Ed Murray, another Seattle Democrat who supports exploring the surface and transit option, rejected the call for new legislation.

"The Legislature doesn't need to do a thing," Murray said. "What the Legislature and the governor needs to do is to tell Seattle elected officials, including the legislators, 'Get on the same page and come down here a common vision."

Murray said that would be a stark contrast to the current situation, which he calls "the politics of no," which is when people with opposing views vow to veto the other's proposal "until nothing ever happens."

AT A GLANCE

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