After Congress decided in late 2005 it couldn't stomach a $229 million earmark for a bridge to nowhere from Anchorage to undeveloped land across two-mile wide Knik Arm, Congress gave $229 million in un-earmarked dollars to the state of Alaska in a deal with powerful Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens. That should have been the end of the Knik Arm Bridge (also known in the 2005 federal transportation statute as "Don Young’s Way," named after Alaska Congressman and federal money benefactor Congressman Don Young) since the state now could spend the money on more worthwhile transportation projects like fixing its poorly-maintained roads -- with no state income or sales tax, there's little money for infrastructure upkeep. But the bridge-building plan has not yet sunk to the bottom of the treacherous salmon and beluga-filled waters of Knik Arm, and now bridge proponents are asking private investors to fund the project.
The clever folks with the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority, a public corporation, plan to build the bridge by talking corporate investors into paying for the bridge portion of the project while using state and federal money for the costly access roads. And guess who would make money from the toll revenue should the region's relatively sparse population decide to use the bridge? Not the government you can be sure, even though they would put up a substantial portion of the money to make the bridge happen.
Where do you go to "sell" a bridge to nowhere to potential investors? New York City, of course. On Tuesday, January 23 at the Sheraton Manhattan Hotel, the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority will be selling its product to investors. Will the bridge salesmen tell investors that:
• The authority’s estimated number of bridge travelers may be far too high because the bridge will shorten current commuting time to Anchorage only for those living in a sparsely populated part of the region?
• A major prison project was approved in January 2007 for the currently-undeveloped area on the far side of the bridge, making it a far less appealing location for new residents and likely bridge travelers?
• The cost of the bridge could go up dramatically if federal agencies require an expensive new bridge design to protect the area's beluga whales and to minimize siltation that could affect the Port of Anchorage?
• The authority’s estimate of bridge construction costs may be very, very low given how little its numbers have changed even as construction costs have gone up by 1/3 in recent years?
• A relatively-inexpensive, multi-modal alternative to the bridge was rejected by the Federal Highway Administration, which may leave FHWA’s Record of Decision to allow the bridge to proceed to construction open to challenge?
Interestingly, the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority’s Request for Qualifications prohibits investors from "engag[ing] in traffic and revenue data mining activities with the public and [those] associated with the Project without advance written approval" (p. A-17) at the same time that the authority states that "KABATA does not...provide a general indemnification to the [private bridge] Developer" (p. A-20) and "No representation or warranty is made as to the...accuracy, completeness and relevance of any document." (p. C-19)
If the authority’s bridge salesmen will not give investors the facts, someone else has to. A coalition of public interest organizations, neighborhood groups, and dedicated public servants have collaborated to produce a website on the bridge: www.knikbridgefacts.org. Additionally, bridge opponents will have materials to distribute at the January 23 meeting, with more detailed information forthcoming in the next few weeks. We need the media and others to turn out at Tuesday’s meeting in NYC to ask some hard questions about the need for an expensive Knik Arm "bridge to nowhere" in a state as unpopulated as Alaska, the likelihood of investors losing money and/or time on a bridge that can’t be built now for a reasonable amount of money, etc.
Workshop details:
What: Workshop for potential Knik Arm Bridge investors
When: January 23, 9-11 am, potential press conference following the workshop
Where: Sheraton Manhattan Hotel, Manhattan Room (790 7th Ave. at 51st St., New York)
Last, note that there are two bridges to nowhere in Alaska which had expensive Congressional earmarks which were then were unearmarked. This diary discusses the Knik Arm Bridge near Anchorage; the Gravina Access Bridge, which would go from Ketchikan to an island with 50 people and Ketchikan's airport (and former Governor Frank Murkowski's family has land there), is a different bridge. I may post information on the Gravina Access Bridge as well as developments occur.