Dear Editor,

A meeting regarding the proposed tunnel alternative to the Alaskan Way Viaduct was held on Monday, March 23 and was very ably monitored by Mr. Phillips. The subject was pretty well covered by the panel and many questions were answered, but the final one was mine and they could not satisfactorily answer this one important thing:

More than one million cubic yards of dirt will be removed from this 54 foot bore, and it will be hauled away by trucks, probably 10-yard capacity.

WHERE are they going to haul it? WHAT are they going to do with it, and how many trucks per hour will transiting Seattle streets for how long?

We are talking about 100,000 truckloads added into our traffic. It's a bit different than hauling dirt to the Third Runway Project. Then, after that, there will be untold number of trucks hauling away the concrete remnants of the demolished viaduct.

I hope they won't just barge it into the bay, for we need all they bay for maritime commerce, freighters, cruise liners, barges and pleasure boats.

My solution: Use it to fill in the south end of Lake Washington; no longer would Mercer Island be isolated, we'd permanently solved the problem if floating bridges (we don't need them), and we'd have lots of flat land where hungry developers can build low cost housing for our never-ending flow of homeless people, many who are not "from here" but come here because our liberal attitude allows homeless to sleep wherever and get state handouts.

The panel couldn't answer this important question about where all this dirt and debris will go.

Jack R. Ellison
Seaview