Palin's Road to Nowhere...

[dkf]

Sam Stein
[e-mail] | HuffPost Reporting From DC
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Palin Also Supported The "Road To Nowhere" (And May Still)

September 4, 2008 03:58 PM

While a debate rages over how honest Sarah Palin has been in stating her opposition to the infamous Bridge To Nowhere, another massive, widely-criticized transportation project is lingering in Alaska.

The "Road To Nowhere" is a $375 million "mega-project" designed to connect Juneau to the towns of Haines and Skagway via 50 miles of new road along the steep slopes of an avalanche-battered canal, ending at a ferry terminal at the Haines river.

As of 2005, Haines had a population of 2,400, while Skagway had 870 residents.

According to the Alaska Transportation Priorities Project, a group promoting "sensible transportation systems in the state," the Road to Nowhere is an irresponsible waste. The project has received more than $100 million in federal and state funding. This includes a $15 million dollar federal earmark and approximately $24 million in federal dollars passed through to the state. But it remains far from completion - hampered by opposition, environmental and safety concerns, and general wariness over its utility.

Palin has been anything but a steady fiscal hawk on the matter. The Governor came into office saying she supported the road, which was started under her predecessor Frank Murkowski. In an October 2006 questionnaire by Anchorage Daily News, she simply wrote "Yes" when asked "Do you support building a road from Juneau to Skagway?"

But even Palin's own transition team recognized, in its report, that the Bridge and Road to Nowhere were "seen as a severe drain on resources that would otherwise be assigned to heavily used commercial and passenger routes." And yet, Palin has not definitely ruled out the construction of the road. She canceled plans for an 11-mile gravel road that could have been part of the Juneau Road project. And after conservation and public interest groups filed a lawsuit in August 2006 to halt the roads construction, Palin's office decided not to move forward while the litigation was pending.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/04/palin-also-supported-the_n_123991.html

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. Pro-life, Pro-waste, Pro-stupid.

[orleans]

2. yes, it's a long and lonely road that sarah has traveled down...all the way down

the road to nowhere lead sarah here--to our doors (and tvs)

but sarah...we're gonna leave you standing there
because we've seen that road before