March 11, 2005
Friday

Transportation Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) on Thursday oversaw the passage of H.R. 3, a $284-billion transportation bill that will authorize spending on highway and transit projects for the next six years. A staggering $721.9 million is earmarked for 39 wasteful transportation projects in Alaska, including $423 million for two massive bridges say Alaska conservation groups.

"This is a bad deal for both taxpayers and the environment," said Tim Bristol, director of the Alaska Coalition. "Despite spiraling deficits, the war and real transportation needs around the country, Don Young is set on building bridges to nowhere that will destroy sensitive public wildlands in Alaska at the expense of American taxpayers."

According to the Alaska Coalition, Alaska Transportation Priorities Project, Alaska Wilderness League and the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, if the transportation bill is later enacted into law, it will mean a mind-blowing per capita cost of $1,151 per Alaskan for transportation spending. Under the same bill, the average American would get just $44.25 in transportation spending.

"Young did his job getting money for Alaska, yet for all the enormous earmarks for controversial, speculative and far-off mega-projects, he really missed the mark," said Emily Ferry of the Alaska Transportation Priorities Project. "What we really need is responsible spending on the ferry system, ports and fixing potholes and intersections."

These conservation groups contend that last year, Chairman Young also attempted to lock up nearly half a billion dollars in excessive projects for Alaska through a last-minute addition to the transportation bill. That bill later failed when lawmakers could not agree on a final cost for the bill that would not be vetoed by the White House.

The groups say the funneling of federal money into unpopular, expensive Alaska transportation projects is nothing new. Alaska currently receives between $5-7 for every $1 it contributes to the federal highway trust fund, while states such as Florida get back less than $0.90 for every dollar they contribute.

According to the Alaska Coalition, Alaska Transportation Priorities Project, Alaska Wilderness League and the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, some of the transportation bill's most egregious projects include:

• Gravina Bridge: $223 million earmarked in H.R. 3, $175 million attempted earmark in 2004. Construction of the Gravina Bridge would link the city of Ketchikan, population 8,000, to the city's airport on Gravina Island. Already a recipient of a "Golden Fleece" award from Taxpayers for Common Sense, the Gravina Island Bridge will have impacts on taxpayers' wallets and the wild road-free watersheds of the Tongass National Forest. The bridge, which would be nearly as long as the Golden Gate Bridge and higher than the Brooklyn Bridge, would replace a seven-minute ferry ride to the local airport. In the past year alone, cost estimates for the project have risen another 37 percent to $315 million and Alaskans are expecting American taxpayers to foot the bill.
• Knik Arm Bridge: $200 million earmarked in H.R. 3, $200 million attempted earmark in 2004. Construction of the Knik Arm Bridge would connect the city of Anchorage to hundreds of square miles of unpopulated wetlands to the north. Preliminary cost estimates for the bridge are upwards of $2 billion. Even the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce has raised serious questions about the project.
• Juneau Access Road: $15 million earmarked in H.R. 3.
  This brand new 68-mile, $281-million road would compromise the integrity of Berners Bay - an area of incredible ecological significance in the heart of the Tongass National Forest dedicated by Congress to "remain roadless and wild in character" and Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park. All three of the affected communities: Juneau, Haines and Skagway, are currently on record as opposing the road and instead support improvements to the Alaska Marine Highway System, a designated National Scenic Byway.
• Bradfield Canal Road: $2.3 million earmarked in H.R. 3, $2.3 million attempted earmark in 2004. Many local leaders, businesses, ports and citizens of British Columbia are opposed to this road, which would connect Southeast Alaska with Canada and the lower 48 states. With projected costs exceeding any benefits, the proposed road would open one of the highest ranking roadless areas in the Tongass National Forest to mineral and timber development.

Source of News:

Alaska Coalition
Alaska Transportation Priorities Project
Alaska Wilderness League
Southeast Alaska Conservation Council

 

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