I like Seattle's public transit. As for the tunnel, how about giving the right-of-way to Sound Transit and let them build the Ballard/West Seattle rail route through there? They seem to be doing quite well at digging tunnels pretty much everywhere.
What there is of Seattle's transit is good. The problem is that coverage is poor, it relies too heavily on buses (I'd love some more comprehensive regional rail...) and the buses are over capacity and underfunded. Otherwise it is sanitary (some other cities seem to have trouble keeping feces off of everything, but Seattle does well there) and often on time.
Seattle Transit Blog had a post that touched on that topic. (which I can't find) I think the reason to not do that is that the tunnel is too deep so you would not have stations downtown since the cost of each station is more then a transit only tunnel.
I like Seattle's public transit. As for the tunnel, how about giving the right-of-way to Sound Transit and let them build the Ballard/West Seattle rail route through there? They seem to be doing quite well at digging tunnels pretty much everywhere.