 By Bobbie McCreary May 23, 2005
What I cannot understand is: what are those future possibilities from the bridge to Gravina...how have they been quantified? how will the investment pay off for our community over the long term? If, as suggested, the bridge makes it more convenient and less expensive to travel to and from the airport, how many such passages are affected annually? what is the cost to build and maintain the roads, the bridge access/egress, and the parking lots to support this transportation system? What is the net positive effect on our community? This may all have been calculated and considered, however, I have not yet to hear about it. Perhaps instead, what the bridge, and the proposed extended cruiseship docks, do is negatively affect our "Gateway." We will no longer evidence a pristine wilderness setting as the cruise ships approach our island with concrete bridges (not even attractive ones at that) spanning the horizon. We will no longer display the quaint, funky look of Ketchikan when our historic shoreline is displaced by cruiseship docks. There will be no look of a "Gateway" left to our community. Personally, without seeing the demonstrated long-term financial necessity of these "improvements", I'm pretty disappointed in the concept of losing our community's specialness. And, I've heard visitors to our community speak the same viewpoint. Are we only listening to those
with special interests at stake? I hope not.
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