pork 2004

[wwworry]

link

The other bridge would span an inlet for nearly two miles to tie Anchorage to a port that has a single regular tenant and almost no homes or businesses. It would cost up to $2 billion.

But as a transportation solution, the Ketchikan bridge is seen as something of a joke. It would replace a five-minute ferry crossing.

"Everyone knows it's just a boondoggle that we're getting because we have a powerful congressman," said Mike Sallee, 57, whose mother homesteaded here and who now runs a small timber operation. "That ferry of ours has been pretty darn reliable."

In public hearings on the bridge plan, officials heard few complaints about the ferry service. The ferry crosses every half-hour in winter and every 15 minutes in summer, when there are two boats available and a third on call. The crossing one day this week, from the time a visitor picked up his bags at the airport to his reaching town, took less than 10 minutes — and that included a wait for the ferry to arrive and dock at the island.

Yet the bridge may make for a longer trip to the airport, people here say. Anyone driving from Ketchikan to catch a plane will have to head south of town, move past a main drag frequently clogged with tourists, ascend a mountain, cross the mile-long bridge westbound, then circle north around the back of Gravina Island to reach the airport. In addition, the airport will have to build a parking structure, at an estimated cost of $11 million.

"The funny thing, when that big bridge is done, it will take more time to get to the airport than it does now on our little ferry," said Dale Collins, a mariner who heads the ship pilots association here. "But it sure will be big. It's unbelievable, the size of that bridge."

[Dippo]

Worthless NYTimes...do they actually think I want to register?

Can anyone post the entire article?

[Don't panic]

i think everybody missed the point of why this bridge is being built.
As anybody with any experience in tourism and hip trends will tell you,

high clearance bridge +
zero traffic +
nice scenery +
extreme location =
------------------------
Bungee jumping!!!!

if they're lucky they might even land the x-games in a dozen years.
THEN they're in business....

[mactastic]

Gotta love Ted Stevens, the reigning king of pork.