Accusation: Viaduct quake video is 'fear-mongering'

"It's fear mongering. That's obviously the intent of it," says Elizabeth Campbell, a former mayoral candidate who has stood in front of the City Council arguing against a replacement tunnel for years.

The alarming video shows the Alaskan Way Viaduct falling down in flames during a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. The viaduct begins to sway, and in less than 30 seconds, the road below starts to crumble as the seawall gives way.

Seconds later, the viaduct falls, pancaking on top of itself.

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Ron Pannanen of the state Transportation Department says the video "really accurately reflects what we believe would happen."

The video was produced nearly three years ago, but even when lawmakers debated the viaduct's multibillion-dollar alternatives, the department never released the video - because it was too disturbing.

"We felt it was a little bit disturbing, and at the time we didn't think it was appropriate to release because it was a little too dramatic," Pannanen says.

But it was released this weekend because Elizabeth Campbell forced them to - by filing a public records request last month.

Ironically, the animation doesn't help Campbell's cause to build a replacement viaduct. But she believes the timing of the release - in the middle of the Seattle mayoral race, in which the tunnel is an issue - is all political.

"I don't see that it's anything other than Wash-DOT again, trying to manipulate the whole Alaskan Way Viaduct process," she says, referring to the state Tranportation Department by its acronym.

Pannanen says the timing of the video's release is purely coincidental.