This is all the runway most of the people in Ketchikan need. Ted Stevens and the Murkowskis want American taxpayers to pay for runways for their private jets.
Posted on 09/21/2007 12:03:03 PM PDT by skeptoid
The state of Alaska on Friday officially abandoned the controversial "bridge to nowhere" project in Ketchikan that became symbol of federal pork-barrel spending.
The $398 million bridge would have connected Ketchikan to its airport on a nearby island.
"Ketchikan desires a better way to reach the airport, but the $398 million bridge is not the answer," Gov. Sarah Palin said in a prepared statement.
She directed the state transportation department to find the most "fiscally responsible" alternative for access to the airport.
Republicans U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and U.S. Rep. Don Young championed the project through Congress two years ago, securing more than $200 million in funds for the bridge between Ketchikan, on Revillagigedo Island, and Gravina Island.
(Excerpt) Read more at adn.com ...
The official cost for this Road to the Bridge to Nowhere (that will not be built) is $7.56 million per mile
Grrrrrrrrrrrr dammit rino's
It’s a bridge to Stevens’ exit from the Senate
Sickening, the waste. Everyone in govt. thinking about how to stuff their own wallets while the country falls into debt with the ChiComs and wallows deeper in dependency to Muzzie/Chavez oil barons. Dim, Repub, I don’t care... throw them ALL out and start fresh. Maybe keep the few with integrity like Hunter.
New Conservative revolution people... it needs to happen!
Don’t forget that Don Young originated the funding in the House and I remember him being equally or perhaps even more shameless in defend this Icon of Egregious Pork.
The rationalization was to connect Ketchikan to the airport on the island. It probably would have been cheaper to build another airport on the mainland and fly people from the island airport to the mainland airport.
This is all the runway most of the people in Ketchikan need. Ted Stevens and the Murkowskis want American taxpayers to pay for runways for their private jets.
The original bridge to nowhere was built many years ago over the Danger River. It was designed to connect Yakutat, Alaska to the Alaska Highway through Canada. Before the final connection was completed the Canadian Government pulled the plug on crossing into Canada.
No problem. Four nukes would provide enough level terrain for the terminal. Ten more nukes for the runway.
Ah those crazy Canuks.. with there beedie eyes and floppy heads..
When the ALCAN was built, it too lead to no-where!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Highway
In fact many of the highways through the US were built at the time through no-where and connecting to no-where. These issues are comparable to the allegory of the chicken and the egg and you seem to know the answer. Ask yourself, is it mere coincidence that certain cities sprung up and grew along major Highway routes the way they did? Alaska has vast resources: Oil, lumber, gold and the fishing industry is diverse and large. Alaska is not inconsequential when it comes to tourism either. Killing this bridge to “no-where” might make some feel like they stopped pork-belly projects, but in reality you simply retarded economic development.
Was this a good move? I don’t know.
The thing is, Alaska can also fund and build this project on its own, if it really wants to. The feds don’t have to pick up EVERY construction tab. As I recall, the state of MA started having to pay for its ‘Big Dig’ project under Boston once the costs spiraled above a certain amount.
“The Bridge is officially dead, ... but did you know the State of Alaska is building a highway to connect to it as I type?”....”The official cost for this Road to the Bridge to Nowhere (that will not be built) is $7.56 million per mile....”
So is the road actually a “boost-real-estate-values” job, or a “make-do-government-supplied-jobs” job, because I don’t understand what else it can be? Is the state GOP “proud” of this? What’s the GOP take on it in Alaska?
I like this governor. She has good common sense.
I'd have to disagree. WW2 was on and the ALCAN was needed for national defense. It connected the rest of North America with mainland Alaska.
The Bridge to Nowhere would connect Ketchikan (on Revillagegedo Island) to Gravina Island via the smaller Pennock Island.
The population of the entire area is barely 13,000 and the only way for any non-resident to use the bridge would be to travel there by air or water because the closest road link to the rest of the continent is 90 miles to the south in Prince Rupert, B.C.
The bridge desgn accomodates the same size vessels as the Golden Gate Bridge because Ketchikan's economy is significantly supported by Panamax cruise ships that bring in around one million tourists every year.
Ketchikan is currently connected to Gravina Island by multiple ferries that cross a channel that is literally 1200 (twelve hundred) feet wide.
The newest and largest of these ferries was built a literal stone's throw from the ferry terminal in Ketchikan.
And finally, a recent study found that all areas of Alaska will experience significant population growth in the next 20 - 30 years ...... except Southeast Alaska.
Thankfully, it appears that the current Alaska administration has driven the final nail in the Bridge to Nowhere coffin, but the road to it has been under construction for some months.
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