West Seattleites nominated Fauntleroy Way, 16th Avenue and the Spokane Street Viaduct for Mayor Greg Nickels' "dirty dozen" list of city streets in greatest need of repair.

The mayor received 700 nominations for the list of Seattle's worst roads. The final 12 streets haven't been determined yet because the e-mail messages and letters are still being categorized.

The dirty dozen gimmick is part of Nickels' push for voters to approve a 20-year transportation investment program. The proposal would raise about $65 million a year to repave city streets, repair bridges, build sidewalks near schools, add to bike trails, fix stairways, erect new street signs and invest in other parts of Seattle's transportation infrastructure.

Nickels and the City Council already tripled the amount of money the city had been spending on street maintenance, such as fixing potholes, repainting crosswalks and repaving. But that wasn't enough to catch up on the estimated $500 million backlog of maintenance projects.

Nickels invited weekly newspapers to City Hall for a press conference June 27 along with officials of the Seattle Department of Transportation regarding his "Bridging the Gap" plan. Voters decide in the fall.

If approved, the proposal would supply money for the planned widening of the Spokane Street Viaduct, the less-than-a-mile-long elevated connection between the West Seattle Bridge and Interstate 5. Cost estimates are in the $128 to $145 million range. The cost could be at the upper end of those figures if the viaduct is built in phases rather than in one continuous construction project, Costa said. If the Spokane Street Viaduct widening was done all at once, it would take 2.5 to 3 years.

Many of the city's bridges need repairs. Concrete tends to deteriorate over time, explained Dori Costa, a city transportation planner. The undersides of bridges all over Seattle need reinforcement so the structures can support the loads put on them every day.

The West Seattle Bridge is on the list for repair work.

So is the Fauntleroy Expressway, which connects the West Seattle Bridge to 35th Avenue Southwest.

There's also the Admiral Way bridge spanning Fairmount Ravine.

Arterial streets all over Seattle would be repaved too. The old asphalt will be ground off and then a 2- to 3-inch-thick layer of new asphalt will be put down, Costa said. The process is meant to keep moisture out of the road base. The new pavement is supposed to last 15 to 20 years.

It's much more expensive to rebuild streets than to repave them. Beach Drive needs to be rebuilt and the plan is for that to happen sometime in the next 20 years if voters approve the city plan this autumn.

Other West Seattle arterial streets that could be repaired are Fauntleroy Way, California Avenue, 35th Avenue and Roxbury Street.

Residential streets will get what's called "chip sealing." A layer of liquid asphalt is sprayed onto the street and little rocks are spread evenly over it. The weight of slow-moving cars and trucks pushes the rocks into the asphalt.

Mayor Nickels remembered as a kid growing up east of Lincoln Park, near 44th Avenue and Southwest Rose Street, when the city would chip seal the streets in his old neighborhood.

Another part of the mayor's transportation package is to install new sidewalks on routes commonly used by children walking to and from school.

Starting with elementary schools, transportation planners intend to meet with school principals to learn what routes kids use. The city would replace damaged sidewalks and install new sidewalks where there have been none.

Nickels said sidewalks are especially scarce in the North Seattle, beyond North 85th Street.

Where practical, grassy ditches called bioswales would be built to allow rainwater to seep into groundwater rather than be piped to Puget Sound.

If approved by voters, the city would aim to improve walking routes at five or six schools a year, Nickels said.

Bike trail improvements are part of the package too.

A section of the Duwamish Trail in South Park is on the list for improvement.

However the missing section of the trail next to West Marginal Way Southwest near Idaho Street is not included in the package. Funds to finish that part of the Duwamish Trail will come from other sources, Costa said.

The mayor has three ways to raise the money to pay for the transportation improvements.

He will seek permission to raise the 1-percent-per-year limit on property taxes. Nickels wants the OK to impose a tax of 45 cents per $1,000 worth of property on city residents. That would raise about $46 million the first year.

Nickels also wants a 10 percent tax on Seattle's pay parking lots to bring in about $13 million.

He wants Seattle businesses to pay $2 per month for each employee who lives outside the city limits. There are about 250,000 people who work in Seattle but live elsewhere, according to Nickels. They use Seattle streets conducting business but, as nonresidents, they don't share in the cost of upkeep.

"We ask our property taxpayers to step up," Nickels said. It's fair to ask others who also make their living in the city to help pay for its maintenance, he added. The employee tax would bring an estimated $5.5 million.

Seattle businesses could avoid paying the tax if they provide Metro bus passes to their nonresident employees.

This new approach to financing is being proposed because the city's past methods of raising money, so-called "dedicated revenue sources," have been rejected by public initiative and the courts.

Washington voters approved limiting property tax increases to 1 percent annually but that doesn't provide enough revenue to pay for the planned improvements, Nickels said. So the city will try to get a "levy-lid lift" for a higher tax rate for the Bridging the Gap proposal.

Voters also decided to reduce and standardize car licensing fees statewide. That was another $5.4 million a year gone from city coffers.

Over the last decade, Seattle also lost about $6 million in fuel tax revenue due to inflation and new cities incorporating within King County. Now there are more slices to cut from the same size pie.

Another former source, the street utility fee, which took in more than $13 million a year, was snuffed by the State Supreme Court.

"About 66 percent of our dedicated revenue is gone," Nickels said. It amounts to about $12.5 million a year less for transportation infrastructure, he added.

Tim St. Clair can be reached at tstclair@robinsonnews.com or 932-0300.