News on the tunnel front today. KIRO reports:

The newest timeline from contractors shows the State Route 99 tunnel will open more than three years late and needs millions of additional dollars to be completed.

Tunneling now expected to finish in summer 2017 with the tunnel opening in early 2019—three years after it was initially scheduled to open.

"Based on our preliminary review, what we anticipate today is a 1.8 percent budget increase, or a cash-flow need of up to $60 million in the 2017-2019 biennium, to ensure continued progress," Washington State Department of Transportation staff said in a written statement.

Former Stranger reporter Dominic Holden predicted this, too, back in 2010.

Bertha, the tunnel drilling machine, is only one-third of the way toward its final destination in South Lake Union and has yet to reach its deepest point. It got stuck in 2013, but was finally repaired and made some progress earlier this year.