We now enter the long winter of transportation chaos with very little to hope for. Proposition 1, a messy conglomeration of taxes to do a bunch of things part way, was dumped hard by voters who simply did not like the smell of the thing.

We admit we supported it, but only because it was the only thing that could be of any value to the people who live on the west side of the city. But voters took a look at the vastly different projections of its cost and said no, even though those estimates were largely politically inspired nonsense. We think voters were simply so confused and so concerned about the waffling leadership in Seattle and the state, they just said, "Go away and come back later with something that will accomplish something concrete - and with a cost we can understand."

So what happens now. If this rejection is like other rejections the people have given transportation initiatives, we have entered "Transportation Winter," or what we refer to as the Long Pause. Political leaders are hiding and licking their wounds. It is usually a year or more before they emerge from such a wholloping.

Already the Alaskan Way Viaduct is mostly ignored and the new tranportation dilemma on the front burner is the 520 bridge. The bridge is in need of upgrade, but unless you do a lot of shopping at Bellevue Square or work at Microsoft in Redmond, its repair, replacement or whatever, will do little to help the residents of West Seattle.

The viaduct is getting some needed shoring up to stave off the day, maybe, when it will have to be replaced. Some observers, and we are one, think the viaduct can be retrofitted to last for many years.

The Washington State Department of Transportation has something they call Moving Forward, which could be aptly called Doing Something. It will repair or replace about half of the "seismically vulnerable viaduct." One thing will be the replacement of a portion of the viaduct that was badly damaged many years ago when a tanker truck exploded and burned. The Moving Forward project is expected to take five years and be complete in 2012, if there ever is a completion of a project such as the Alaskan Way Viaduct.

The money for the project comes from a variety of the usual sources. The state says $2 billion will come from the 2005 gas tax, $177 million from the 2003 gas tax (remember the nickel?) and $208 million from one of those crazy "earmarks" we hear about from Congress (all earmarks are good it they fund your project). The city will chip in some chump change along with other governmental agencies.

But the changes West Seattle was told about the the Spokane Viaduct are off the table for now. There is a city project that is expected to strangle Denny Way, Elliott Way and 15th Avenue next spring - the Seattle Department of Transportation will be doing repavement work from the south end of the Ballard Bridge to Denny Way to about Dexter. That will mean lane closures and another hazard for anyone driving to north Seattle.

A bright spot for West Seattle is the potential of the Water Taxi taxi running year around by 2010, thanks to the continued hard work of County Councilman Dow Constantine. We only hope a permanent base for the Water Taxi will be ready by then.

- Jack Mayne