“We’re going to ask ourselves, ‘Why didn’t we do this a long time ago?’

“When that [waterfront under today’s viaduct] is opened up, I have every expectation that people will love it.”

McGinn, who warned early and often that building the largest tunnel in the world could come with significant risks and delay, also stands by his convictions. Crews will break down Bertha as others prepare the inside of the tunnel to handle double-decker lanes of a $3.1 billion underground highway project that will replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct, which was damaged in a 2001 earthquake. The $2 billion Alaskan Way Viaduct replacement in Seattle is now slated to open in early 2019, fully three years behind schedule. Jay Inslee said in a statement that he was proud of the work and that this was “a moment to reflect on the incredible level of innovation and skill needed to get to this point.”

Republican state Sen. Michael Baumgartner of Spokane, a member of the Transportation Committee, called the project “a tragedy of errors.”

“Only in bonkers, leftist Seattle would an absurdly stupid project that’s massively behind schedule and over cost, would finishing be considered a success,” he told The Associated Press. Meanwhile, some lawmakers are working in Olympia on a bill to make Seattle pay for the cost overruns on the tunnel instead of the state of Washington.
Bertha, once the world's largest tunnel boring machine, completes its 9,270-foot-long (2,830 m) tunnel under Seattle, Washington, after four years of digging and a lengthy delay near the beginning of the project.