$4M rebuild planned for leaky pedestrian tunnel on WA Capitol campus
An underground tunnel connecting two Washington state legislative buildings is plagued by water leaks. This damaged concrete and pooled water is just outside the entrance to the House office building. Lawmakers earmarked $4 million in the 2025-27 capital budget to make repairs and install proper drainage. (Photo by Jerry Cornfield / Washington State Standard)
Be careful entering the underground tunnel linking two legislative buildings on the Washington state Capitol campus.
It may be slippery.
Water leaks flood the concrete path connecting the House and Senate office complexes, making for a slick trek.
Water is also eating away at the structural integrity of the roughly 85-year-old passageway between the John A. Cherberg and John L. O'Brien buildings, and could potentially damage the latter building because it is on the walkway's downhill side.
This year, lawmakers earmarked $4 million in the state capital budget to essentially rebuild the tunnel.
'Without repairs, the entire tunnel will eventually fail,' the Department of Enterprise Services wrote in its request for money to make repairs.
Guy Bergstrom said it's been a problem since he joined the House Democratic Caucus staff three decades ago.
'It's always damp, if not a little river running through it,' he said. 'You have to make the water drain away. That's the whole damn ball game.'
The project will require excavating the tunnel and installing new waterproofing and external drainage. Reinforcing the structure will also be needed, the agency wrote in its budget request.
It will take about two years to finish. Site evaluation will begin in July. Design would come next, likely between November and next March. Digging would start after the 2026 legislative session, with construction expected to last until May 2027.
The tunnel connects the basements of the two buildings. It is about 10 feet wide, 8 feet high, and a little under 150 feet long. It was built in the same period as the two buildings.
Cherberg houses offices of Democratic senators and Senate committee hearing rooms. It was completed in 1937 and originally named the Public Lands and Social Security Building. O'Brien is where most state representatives have offices. House committee rooms are located there, too. When it was completed in 1940, it was known as the Transportation Building.
The Department of Enterprise Services first noted damage to the concrete in 2011 and problems have significantly increased since, according to the department's request.
Doing nothing, the agency memo concluded, 'will result in a costly emergency response when the tunnel ultimately fails and threatens the life and health safety of legislators and their staff, the historic integrity of the West Capitol Campus, and continuity of government operations.'
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