The sad fact is the Ketchikan bridge would serve less than forteen thousand (14,000) people. That's for a total official cost estimate (which, of course has been raised about 40% and is still low) of 315 MILLION. That's a principle of 22,500 per man, woman, and child to repay and at least DOUBLE that for interest, and there isn' ANY significant population within 300 miles and there is NO road access!! The closest road, as the article states, is a six-hour ferry ride away, and then you drive two days through a foreign country to get to the next nearest state!!
The scope of the project is roughly the same as the Golden Gate. In length and vertical clearance. The same ships visit Ketchikan and San Francisco. The difference is that the Golden Gate is a TOLL BRIDGE, was built by a local BOND ISSUE vote, and not ONE DIME of State or Federal funds was involved.
And finally, in 2004, the revenue from tolls on the G-Gate was 84 MILLION DOLLARS. How are less that 14,000 potential users of the Ketchikan bridge going to ante up even a fraction of the cost of MAINTAINENCE for this most outrageous fiasco.?
Three-Four Hundred Million Dollars for a bridge from an ISLAND of 14,000 to an ISLAND of 100 to ANOTHER ISLAND with a 30-year-old airport and 30 residents. And they're a six hour boat ride away from a two-day drive to the next nearest State of the Union.
Those are all great reasons to build it! We think big in Alaska...
Scuze me? Alaska Airlines carries 20 times that into and out of Ketchikan every year.