"The concentration is not going to be on a $400 million bridge"

Ketchikan's most talked bridge that may never be, is a lot closer to never being today.

The New York Times has a story on the much discussed "bridge to nowhere", a structure that was to link the Ketchikan airport with the city at a cost of near 400 million dollars.

The Gravina Island bridge project became one of the poster children for federal spending run amok, as critics expressed concern at the plan to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a bridge to an airport to serve a population of less than 15,000 dollars, it was described by many as pork barrelling at its worst.

It had been in the planning stages for the last thirty years, as state and federal politicians navigated the murky waters of the earmarks process through Congress. Last week, the state's Republican Governor Sarah Polin, all but killed off the plan to bridge the gap between the two islands.

“We will continue to look for options for Ketchikan to allow better access to the island,” Ms. Palin said. “The concentration is not going to be on a $400 million bridge.”

Needless to say, in some quarters of Ketchikan there is disappointment that the grand structure seems destined for the dreams that never were file.

Mayor Joe Williams of Ketchikan Gateway Borough, recounted the years of controversy over the project and how his city had been the target of much derision locally and internationally over their desires for a fixed link, and now; “We have nothing to show for it.”

The Governor says that the federal monies that were to go to the bridge will now be redistributed around the state for a number of projects, including an improvement to the ferry service to the Ketchikan airport.

The governor also urged Alaskans not to dwell on the bridge, a little bit of wishful thinking we would suspect.

Somehow, we don't believe that she will get her wish, while it's chances of being built now seem remote at best, the legend of the Bridge to nowhere will not doubt be part of Alaska's political scene for a number of years to come.

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Ketchikan's Sit News had a couple of stories as well as letters posted on its website today, giving some local input to the controversial issue.

Bill Moyers travels along the road to the Bridge to nowhere

The folks in Ketchikan will be watching their local PBS affiliate with a bit more interest this week, as the Bill Moyers Journal takes a look at the plan to build a $223 million dollar bridge to the Ketchikan airport. The Gravina Island bridge is one of those issues that can quickly draw lines in the sand, as those that are in favour of the project battle those that suggest that the plan is pure folly.

The backlash from outside of Alaska has provided elements of pork barreling and conflict of interest to add to the boiling pot.

The project which is an idea that might sound rather familiar to Rupertites, has some residents in Ketchikan hoping to finally have road access to their airport, which like our Digby Island airport is separated from the city by a channel of water. The long discussed plan is the staple of letter to the editor writers across the state, an example for some of state representatives finally standing up for their state and for others it has become one of the posters for government spending running amok.

The controversial nature of the plan to bridge that gap is that it is part of the earmark process of American government, a trade off of sorts that sees politicians in one area supporting a project of no importance to their constituents, in order to receive backing for a project in their corner of the nation. Alaska Representative Don Young and Senator Ted Stevens have been in the forefront of the development of the Gravina Island bridge and have been receiving a fair amount of interest over their political maneuvering on behalf of the state and the Ketchikan area.

The Moyers documentary examines the bridge as part of a larger issue of the earmarks process, the program explains how earmarks are a staple of the US system that is described as the “trading currency of Congress.” They are used to entice members to vote for a bill they wouldn't otherwise support. The Ketchikan bridge, is but one of a number of examples that the program looks at where the earmarks process has provided some controversial funding for local favourite programs or projects.

Moyers interviews Steve Ellis who works for the public interest group, Taxpayers for Common Sense.

They look at the Ketchikan airport bridge plans as "the bridge to nowhere." $223 million dollars earmarked for a bridge to a small local airport and fewer than 100 constituents living on island in Alaska. The earmark on it had been the work of Alaska's representative Don Young (then head of the House Transportation Committee), and his colleague in the Senate, Ted Stevens (then chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.)

Between the two Alaskan politicians, the process of the earmarks and the horse trading that goes with them seemed to be a recipe for fast approval for Ketchikan and a connection to their airport.

However, any easy passage of the plan became sidetracked with the backlash to the handling of Hurricane Katrina and the near destruction of New Orleans. From that point on, it would seem that money matters are receiving a more intense review and when a red flag gets hoisted up on the flag pole, some projects don’t move as fast as they were once destined to.

The Gravina Island Bridge hasn’t been built yet, but the project is by no means dead yet either. The Department of Transportation has been conducting some preliminary work on Gravina Island, while Alaska's government officials remain committed to construction of the Bridge and another likewise controversial crossing in Anchorage.

Though it seems the winds of fiscal responsibility seem to be flowing towards Ketchikan, The Alaska Public Radio Network has a report that earlier this month the Alaska Department of Transport suggested that if Ketchikan wants a bridge, a less expensive version is in their future. Considering the growing backlash towards their plans, if the bridges in Ketchikan and Anchorage are ever built, they will be the most closely watched construction projects in recent history.

The Moyers program provides a fascinating look at how the US system works and what it takes to move a pet project along the food chain.

The PBS website has a page dedicated to the Bill Moyers Journal, you can find some background and video on the program featuring the Bridge to nowhere at this link.

Below, for those of us that haven't been following this as closely as others are some other links about the project:

Gravina Access website

Representative Don Young- Hot Issue

You Tube - Live from the Bridge to Nowhere

Taxpayers for Common sense - Gravina Access project: A Bridge to Nowhere

Bloomberg.com - Alaska's $223 Mln `Bridge to Nowhere' Envied in U.S. Northwest

Sierra Club - Getting Somewhere on the ‘Bridges to Nowhere’

MSNBC - Bush signs $286.4 billion highway bill

Plastic - $220 Million+ For A Bridge To An Island With 50 People?!?

The Heritage Foundation - The Bridge to Nowhere: A National Embarrassment

Seattle Times - Alaska trounces Washington in funding special transportation projects

Tongass Conservation Society - Be Good to Gravina!

Alaska Transportation Priorities Report - The Gravina Access Bridge

Salon- A Bridge to Nowhere

APRN-Ketchikan asked to find a cheaper bridge to Gravina Island

Alaska Journal of Commerce - With or without 'bridge to nowhere,' Gravina highway is a go