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Alaska's Road to Nowhere
NY Times ^ | August 20, 2005 | HEATHER LENDE

Posted on 08/20/2005 4:25:48 PM PDT by neverdem

YOU have probably already heard about the pile of cash going to Alaska from the federal transportation bill. There's about a quarter of a billion dollars for a bridge to connect the airport on Gravina Island to Ketchikan (population 14,000). The bridge will rival the Golden Gate and Brooklyn Bridges in length and height.

Then there's $230 million or so for "Don Young's Way," a bridge between Anchorage and a swampy, undeveloped port, which is named for the man who got us the money, Alaska's lone congressman.

But it's the $15 million designated for a road between Juneau and Skagway that is dearest to me. Haines, the small town I live in, is close to Skagway - separated from it only by the waters of the upper Lynn Canal, which is not a canal at all, but the longest fjord in North America. The transportation money will go toward the first road ever to be built along the canal. Actually, the project will cost about $300 million to complete, but Gov. Frank Murkowski assures Alaskans that he'll get whatever he needs from the federal government.

The communities directly affected - Haines (population 2,400), Skagway (population 870) and Juneau (population 31,000) - have voiced opposition to the road for a host of good reasons: it is a waste of money; with at least two dozen avalanche chutes, it will be too dangerous to drive in winter, which is most of the year; we already have a fine ferry system that gets us just about everywhere we need to go in all kinds of weather; some places are too nice to be paved over.

Oh, and did I mention that the road won't fulfill its ostensible mission? The whole purpose of the new road was to connect Juneau to the Klondike Highway...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Alaska
KEYWORDS: donyoung; frankmurkowski; murkowski; young
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To: Kozak
If it's such a GREAT deal, why can't Alaska pay for it out of, oh say the money they send to every resident out of oil revenue?

So you believe people should never get anything back in the taxes they pay...

Here leach... Suck, suck, suck...

41 posted on 08/20/2005 8:07:18 PM PDT by Paul C. Jesup
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To: Kozak

For both bridges, Alaska is paying for the majority of the projects.


42 posted on 08/20/2005 8:09:43 PM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: Paul C. Jesup

Oh yeah, we should ALL get back 60K per family in benefits, cause WE DESERVE IT. I think you have the wrong site, try DU. It's where the Taxeaters are King.


43 posted on 08/20/2005 8:11:06 PM PDT by Kozak (Anti Shahada: " There is no God named Allah, and Muhammed is his False Prophet")
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To: sharktrager

"The journalist is an Alaskan." So?


44 posted on 08/20/2005 8:12:40 PM PDT by asp1
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To: neverdem

"Then there's $230 million or so for "Don Young's Way,"

This would make a good downpayment on an oil refinery for our nation. We actually need a new oil refinery.
Oh well.....


45 posted on 08/20/2005 8:15:05 PM PDT by HereInTheHeartland (The Democrat party is the official party of the Morlocks.)
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To: asp1

She is therefore more qualified to discuss pork in Alaska than in West Virginia.


46 posted on 08/20/2005 8:36:29 PM PDT by sharktrager (My life is like a box of chocolates, but someone took all the good ones.)
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To: Kozak
Oh yeah, we should ALL get back 60K per family in benefits, cause WE DESERVE IT. I think you have the wrong site

Oh, I see, you are one of those people who think all resources belong to the STATE.
Thats sort of Marxist viewpoint for a freeper, are you sure you're not a DU troll?

Alaska's constitution says the resources of the state belong to the PEOPLE, and the Permanant Fund Dividend is the People's share of those resources.

If you have a problem with that, you have a problem with Democracy.

47 posted on 08/20/2005 8:42:49 PM PDT by konaice
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To: Veritas01

I've never understood why there hasn't been a road to Juneau up to now.


48 posted on 08/20/2005 8:43:11 PM PDT by denydenydeny ("As a Muslim of course I am a terrorist"--Sheikh Omar Brooks, quoted in the London Times 8/7/05)
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To: HereInTheHeartland
This would make a good downpayment on an oil refinery for our nation. We actually need a new oil refinery. Oh well...

I hate to break it to you, but Oil refineries are not built by the government. Public infrastructure (such as roads) are.

I can't believe any freeper would put oil refineries into the hands of the government!

49 posted on 08/20/2005 8:45:06 PM PDT by konaice
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To: cynicom

From my visits to Alaska, I've found the majority of Alaskans want their elected officials to get every penny they can get from Washington D.C. to compensate for Washington D.C. owning most of the state. If you don't like paying through the nose, maybe you should think about giving the people of Alaska the same right to self government as Kosovo Albanians enjoy. They'd have no problem paying for whatever they want or need if the federal government didn't own most of Alaska and rule over the people of Alaska with an iron fist.


50 posted on 08/20/2005 8:52:53 PM PDT by yoswif
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To: denydenydeny
I've never understood why there hasn't been a road to Juneau up to now.

Its simple cost/benefit analysis. Here are a couple clues.

These mountains rise directly out of the water. Every mile of road would have to be blasted out of solid rock. Its just not needed. There is daily ferry and air service down to Juneau.

I'll trust you to take care of Pennsylvania I'f you'll trust Alaskans to take care of Alaska.

51 posted on 08/20/2005 9:00:48 PM PDT by konaice
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To: yoswif
They'd have no problem paying for whatever they want or need if the federal government didn't own most of Alaska and rule over the people of Alaska with an iron fist.

Damn Straight Yoswif!. Thank you for recognizing that. The feds have 95% of Alaskan lands tied up, contrary to the Statehood act.

52 posted on 08/20/2005 9:03:01 PM PDT by konaice
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To: bikepacker67

yeah , but do yer bike tour when the bugs are at an ebb [pre-bugs or post-bugs ,LOL!!]


53 posted on 08/20/2005 9:05:49 PM PDT by Dad yer funny
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To: Paul C. Jesup
I am pointing out the money these people pay in federal taxes offsets the cost of the bridge, therefore the bridge should be funded and built.

That's all they get for their taxes -- just a bridge? The DoD doesn't provide for their defense? No federal funding for NASA? Or Homeland Security? Or the State Department? Where can I select what my money goes for and not have to pay for all the other things I don't want?

54 posted on 08/20/2005 9:08:51 PM PDT by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty," not the "Statue of Security.")
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To: neverdem
I was wondering what it would cost to provide every likely commuting resident with an airplane such vehicle. I then went to http://www.census.gov/population/www/projections/ppl47.html to find out the population and age distributions of Alaska to read this interesting projection.

In 2025, Alaska is the State with the highest proportion of its population under 20 years of age (34 percent), followed by California (33 percent). States projected to have the smallest proportion of population under age 20 are West Virginia and Florida (both with 21 percent).

Hmmm, let's see now, 2025 minus 20 equals 2005 and the report was written in 1996.

I wonder how one projects the demographics for a population whose parents have not even conceived, nor possibly even met, not to mention a possible mass exodus of late teenagers to get the hell out of the frozen zone. I guess those census forms must've been accurately handed out to all the 8-18 year olds in primary and secondary schools during the Clinton years to yield these astounding results.

DNC statistics, ain't it great!

55 posted on 08/20/2005 9:12:37 PM PDT by Cvengr (<;^))
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To: konaice

I've got a problem with the people of Alaska reaching into my back pocket for pork. How about if the rest of us vote to grab all that lovely oil money eh? That would be Democracy in action too wouldn't it?


56 posted on 08/20/2005 9:15:23 PM PDT by Kozak (Anti Shahada: " There is no God named Allah, and Muhammed is his False Prophet")
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To: RightWhale

The Alaska Railroad should be connected to Canada with a sidetrack running all the way to Nome. I did not realize how important railroads were until I moved from AK to SE Idaho in 2002 - they built this country!

NYT idiots think that Point Mackenzie across Knik Arm from Anchorage is swampland. I've hunted that land and its a lot drier and more stable than the mud and silt that Anchorage sits on. Heck, I even found oil seeps on a trail while bird hunting there one October. Oh but wait, that would be an oil spill wouldn't it? Maybe not because there was no oil company in sight...


57 posted on 08/20/2005 9:17:36 PM PDT by 43north (If you're not liberal at 20 you have no heart. If you're still liberal at 40 you have no brain.)
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To: denydenydeny
I've never understood why there hasn't been a road to Juneau up to now.

Because President Polk wimped out of his campaign promise of "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight!" Had he gotten us 54° 40' as the northern border of Washington as promised, British Columbia would be ours and we would have continuous U.S. territory all the way to Alaska (the southern border of Alaska is 54° 40'). They would have probably built a road through there in WWII.

58 posted on 08/20/2005 9:19:18 PM PDT by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty," not the "Statue of Security.")
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To: konaice
Every mile of road would have to be blasted out of solid rock.

We built a road from Burma to China in similar terrain in WWII.

59 posted on 08/20/2005 9:21:28 PM PDT by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty," not the "Statue of Security.")
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To: Kozak
I've got a problem with the people of Alaska reaching into my back pocket for pork

Look at your own state first. I'll bet you have way more stupid wastefull pork projects than Alaska.

Compared to the resourses Alaska supplies to our country we get damn little pork in return.

60 posted on 08/20/2005 9:21:55 PM PDT by konaice
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