Quit calling them the Bridges to Nowhere!

[jmowreader]

With the ascension of the Girl Wonder to her candidacy for president-in-waiting, I looked up these so-called "bridges to nowhere." There are two, the Knik Arm Bridge and the Gravina Island Bridge.

The Knik Arm bridge would have connected Anchorage to the Matanuska Valley, cutting about an hour off travel time between the two locations. The major impetus would have been to allow expansion of Anchorage into the Matanuska Valley. This bridge would have been about two miles long, and cost about $1.5 billion.

This is Gravina Island, where the other bridge would have run to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:KTN-b.jpg

(If the picture doesn't come up, it's an overhead shot of Ketchikan International Airport, which is on Gravina Island.)

At $400 million, this project is almost justifiable especially when you consider they're using ferries to get out there now. The major reasons the bridge has such a high price tag are the three-month construction season in Alaska and the requirement to build the bridge high enough to allow ship traffic under it.

[tanyev]

1. Gravina Island population: less than 50.

That's almost $100 million per resident to build the bridge.

[jmowreader]

11. The bridge isn't intended to service the fifty people who live out there

It's primarily intended to service the airport. Also, people might choose to live on Gravina Island if they didn't have to take the ferry twice a day.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

2. How about, "Bridge to Pretty Much Nowhere"?

[Kitty Herder]

3. Juneau is only accessible by ferry or plane.

If it's good enough for the capital of the state, why not for an island with fifty people?

[lame54]

4. Are you out of your fucking mind?...

The " bridge to nowhere" is a punch-line that shows up the greed of the republicans and any connection of palin to the "bridge" is a bonus for us

[jmowreader]

12. I haven't lost my fucking mind, and we can NAIL Palin on this issue

I was going to say we could "fuck" her on this issue, but then I remembered what she looks like...

On thiis we get Senator Biden, wearing a nice windbreaker with the Obama logo embroidered on it (which, of course, everyone will want so they'll have to start taking orders) and slacks, to stand on the grounds of Ketchikan International Airport, with the Tongass Narrows behind him, and talk about how Palin was for the bridge until she found out it wasn't going to be fully funded by the federal government...and then it became wasteful pork and a thing to be reviled. Make sure he uses the phrase "awash in oil revenues."

As in, she was for it until it stopped being free, and then she was against it.

[brooklynite]

5. Sorry, but I disagree...

The Republicans who are supposedly against them called them the "bridges to nowhere". Let them explain why they're actually worth the money.

[FarCenter]

6. The real purpose of projects like these is to enrich developers

In the case of Anik Arm it would have encouraged the suburban sprawl boom in the Matanuska Valley.

Who controls the land and building options?

Who are the major developers in the area?

[onethatcares]

7. man, I don't remember the Matanuska Valley needing a bridge

when I was up there in 72-75. Hell there was a highway that went from Anchorage to Fairbanks, past Eagle River thru the Matanuska Valley and on to the Alaskan Highway. The University of Alaska had their farms there. And something called MatanuskaThunderfuck was a much sought after crop.

[SammyWinstonJack]

10. .

MatanuskaThunderfuck :smoke:

[L. Coyote]

8. Sorry, too late now!

[Paladin]

9. Once Obama and Biden are in Office.....

....I'll say all the nice things about those bridges you could possibly want. Until then, I'm using them against Palin just as much as I can. I'd advise all Democrats to do likewise.....

[tkmorris]

13. I think it would make more sense to move the airport

I mean, I know it is called "Ketchikan International Airport", but really it isn't that impressive. A runway and a few service buildings. Come to think of it, what were they thinking building an airport reachable only by ferry? I know geography is a challenge there, but there must have been a better option than that.