November 27, 2006
Monday PM

I hope every one had a pleasant Thanksgiving.

It seems the bridge problem keeps coming up. I talked to some informative people some times. I was told that if we do not build this bridge we are going to have to pay the money back. What is the truth to this? In the beginning years ago, the only reason there was big interest from Anchorage area people was that this was where the big engineering firms were. Well they have spent that money and did their designs on a bridge too big and too costly knowing we were never going to build this thing. I would bet their design is not even adequately structurally able to stand up to 100 MPH winds that come in gust.

In Boston's big dig projects the panels are already falling off and killing people. In planning such a big project what are the back up plans for our bridge. Let's just say the weather is just like today, are we going to close the bridge down because we all know how slick bridges get. Close it down for four mouths or install road heaters? I am sure we would be repairing them every year. Not to mention the electricity that they would require. It would create a another great sledding run, such as the bypass that we don't use much any more. While this is on my mind, the concrete on this steep hill is getting really smooth, when are we going to fix that? Will someone have to die?

We need to change this design and location now, not later. I sure do not want to give money back because we did not build such a bad idea. We let Frank get us into this mess and then we said we do not like where we're going now. Just what is Sarah thinking? I bet she doesn't really care. The fact that we may have to give the money back at this point in time we better just settle on a cheaper bridge and build it. I much rather have seen the money go to a road to Petersburg and the mainland. I am just sick that our priorities get all screwed up over money for the ones with power. The intertie would have been half the cost if we would have just built the road first - but Frank did not own property up that way.

We have a few agencies that just cannot seem to work together to get all the roads opened up for us to use. The plan is such a joke. Mental heath land, forest service and state land. But then again I can see why every one in Juneau doesn't care about us getting out of town. I think their road up the Lynn canal is a joke. Drive to take a ferry. Just use that money to improve the ferry service and make the ferry more comfortable to travel on. Improve the food they feed us. I would think the ferry ride would give some politicians time to work on their projects - none interrupted. Maybe we just divide the state into regions and divide the state revenue into even shares. Throw it all in the box and make four even piles then each region gets to use it their way.

Well I lost my way a little bit. I would like to say I really like how some of us on this site really come up with good ideas. I liked Dave Zenge's idea to fix the Airport parking as well as others that think about what we could do to improve our place to live.

Robert McRoberts
Ketchikan, Alaska

Received November 24, 2006 - Published November 27, 2006

About: Long time Ketchikan resident.

 

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