A bridge to nowhere

Salon ^ | 09 August 2005 | Rebecca Clarren

[Lorianne]

Alaska's Gravina Island (population less than 50) will soon be connected to the megalopolis of Ketchikan (pop. 8,000) by a bridge nearly as long as the Golden Gate and higher than the Brooklyn Bridge. Alaska residents can thank Rep. Don Young, who just brought home $941 million worth of bacon.

A mess of thorny devil's club and salmonberries, along with an old chicken coop, surrounds the 40-year-old cabin where Mike Sallee grew up and still lives part time on southeast Alaska's Gravina Island. Sallee's cabin is the very definition of remote. Deer routinely visit his front porch, and black bears and wolves live in the woods out back. The 20-mile-long island, home to fewer than 50 people, has no stores, no restaurants and no paved roads. An airport on the island hosts fewer than 10 commercial flights a day.

Yet due to funds in a new transportation bill, which President Bush is scheduled to sign Wednesday, Sallee and his neighbors may soon receive a bridge nearly as long as the Golden Gate Bridge and 80 feet taller than the Brooklyn Bridge. With a $223 million check from the federal government, the bridge will connect Gravina to the bustling Alaskan metropolis of Ketchikan, pop. 8,000.

[clee1]

A "tenderloin" cut of pork.

WTF are we (Federal taxpayers) paying for this grandiose, unnecessary project?

[IronMan04]

Alaska residents can thank Rep. Don Young, who just brought home $941 million worth of bacon.

No mention of Rep. Young's Party affiliation?

[kenth]

I would have thought that Salon would be happy for the bears. They don't have to swim or wait for flights any more.

[wingnutx]

He's a Republican.

I just checked.

[Wolverine]

Rep. Don Young, who just brought home $941 million worth of bacon.

....home to fewer than 50 people, has no stores, no restaurants and no paved roads.

 

Shame...in light of two major natural disasters, others could really use this money!

[xJones]

The 20-mile-long island, home to fewer than 50 people, has no stores, no restaurants and no paved roads. An airport on the island hosts fewer than 10 commercial flights a day.

That must be the last remaining place in the U.S that the illegals haven't found.

[Ostlandr]

There's a movement afoot to have the pols take all the pork in the transportation bill and use it to fund hurricane relief.
Yeah, right- and Ted Kennedy is gonna stop drinking and praise Ronald Reagan.

Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #1- "Once you have their money, never give it back."

[Nalu]

It would be cheaper to buy them Mansions in Beverly Hills than build that bridge.

[conservative in nyc]

There are arguments for the project:

1) The only way to get to Ketchikan's airport is by ferry, which can be unreliable. For example, according to the Environmental Impact Statement for the bridge, if there is a medical emergency, the ferry is taken out of regular service to bring the patient to the airport. Regular passengers then miss their flights.

2) Ketchikan itself has little flat land to grow. Everyone thinks of Alaska a wide open, but Southeast Alaska is different. Ketchikan is built on the side of a hill on an island along the famous Inside Passage. Gravina and Pennock Islands are much flatter and undeveloped. There's room for industrial development.

3) The cost of the bridge was increased due to the need to make sure cruise ships could float under the span. Cruise ship traffic drives Ketchikan's economy. Cheaper alternatives that were studied were either too low or too close to the city's main seaplane base. Seaplanes connect remote Southeast Alaskan villages to the rest of the world.

4) They studied other alternatives, including building more ferries and a tunnel. The ferry infrastructure would be cheaper to set up but much more costly to maintain. The tunnel was even more expensive than the bridge.

I'm not saying the cost is justified. But to describe it as just a bridge linking an island of 50 people to Ketchikan is a bit misleading.

By the way, there are actually two bridges to "nowhere" here - one 200-foot high bridge from Ketchikan to Pennock Island, and another 120-foot high bridge from Pennock Island to Gravina Island. Very few people currently live on Pennock Island.

[ALASKA]

I'm not saying the cost is justified. But to describe it as just a bridge linking an island of 50 people to Ketchikan is a bit misleading.

But JUST a bit. There are at least two ferries, and the trip across only takes maybe 5-7 minutes. I don't think the medical emergency senario holds much water. Ketchikan has little flat land on which to grow and that is not a bad thing, because it is not growing. Most of the businesses which benefit from the cruise lines are OWNED by the cruise lines, so other than labor/taxes, most of that money does not stay in Ketchikan. Almost all of the people I have talked to in Ketchikan DO NOT want the bridge. I say send the bridge money to the Gulf coast. REBUILD a few of theirs, those bridges have been, and would be used............

[Nalu]

The Feds should apply emminet domain and buy out the redidents it would elminate the need for the bridge.

[akdonn]

That's great information. Although nobody "officially" lives on Pennock Island, I suspect there may be a few who do. There are so many islands in Southeast Alaska, and a lot of people set up housekeeping on small parcels of land that have been made available in the past. Perhaps if a bridge is built there would be good reason to build homes (and business) there.

[akdonn]

This is a story by somebody having an axe to grind; it repeats itself (Population 8,000) and tries to be cute with calling Ketchikan a "megalopolois" (OXFORD DICTIONARY: Urban area of great extent).

Alaskan Response: TS

[akdonn]

In his defense, Rep. Young said the money comes from gas taxes and can only be used to build roads. He said of detractors in an Alaska broadcast: "They can kiss my ear!"

[akdonn]

Aw, you're not talking to the right people in Ketchikan. That proposal didn't just come to Rep. Young one morning in his Alphabet cereal. Also, there are plenty of OTHER ALASKANS who have to go to Ketchikan periodically (I used to myself) and they aren't too worried about the view down the channel.

[akdonn]

Hey, you managed to spell "domain" right! Are your opinions home-schooled too?

[thackney]

I see the article also fails to mention that the bridges and other earmarked projects required Alaska to give up 600 million in non-earmarked funds. In other words, the funding for the majority cost of these bridges came from Alaska's general transportation funds.

[ALASKA]

there are plenty of OTHER ALASKANS who have to go to Ketchikan periodically (I used to myself) and they aren't too worried about the view down the channel.

I ride that ferry every three weeks and I stick by my original reply. I think maybe Don did receive the message in his cereal, and I wonder who brought him the bowl..........

[CaptainRob]

You forget another argument for the bridge. The Murkowski family owns 33 acres of property on which there's gold mine claim near Clam Cove, less than a mile from where the bridge would connect on Gravina Island.

I don't hear anyone talking about what kind of infrastructure or community building plans are for the land on Gravina Island once the bridge is constructed!

So far Seley's logging operation wants a road so his 40 employees can drive to work instead of boating 5 minutes across the channel. There's talk about opening up a dumpsite for Ketchikan's trash and waste materials, a golf course, and a bigger prision (KTN's current prison is way overcrowded), and of course logging (by Seley) the ancestral grounds of the Natives and likely shipping the raw logs (as was done in the past) directly to Japan with no value added!

I could be sold on a bridge for the right reasons but so far all I've heard about what the future looks like on Gravina Island is a great big shrug of the shoulders, "We just don't know yet and are still developing ideas!"

Pisx poor planning and lack of vision!!!

SHOW ME THE PLANS, THE VISIONS, THE GRAND IDEAS!!!

So far..........butkus!