Knik Arm bridge still a priority in Alaska
by The Associated Press
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska - An Alaska Transportation Department senior manager says the Knik Arm bridge is still a high priority for the state.

Jeff Ottesen spoke Tuesday in Anchorage to a policy committee made up of city and state officials. He warned that shutting down the project would waste $40 million already invested.

The Anchorage Daily News reports the $680 million bridge project has been held up by environmental studies.

The Anchorage Metropolitan Area Transportation Solutions committee, which decides how to spend federal transportation money, voted earlier this year to delay bridge construction until after 2018. When challenged by a lawsuit, AMATS reversed itself and restored the project to short-range plans. Now it is revisiting the question.

comments (9)
« Pearl=W wrote on Thursday, Nov 19 at 10:45 PM »
Isn't it Don Young and buddies who stand to see greatly increased property values, with the Knik Arm Bridge, and the opening of the Pt Mackenzie area to urban/suburban type developement? Got the land in some supposed 'ag-development' type deal??? I seem to remember Young's son-in-law spilling the 'family beans' a year or so ago, on this point. My memory may be faulty on this . . . .

I DO hate to see good agricultural lands go for urban/suburban development, whether in the Mat-Su, or Pt. Mackenzie, or anywhere else.
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« Oh_please wrote on Wednesday, Nov 18 at 05:37 PM »
Wrong bridge. It is down in Ketchikan where the Murkowskis might benefit from a new bridge.

THAT'S right. Thanks for the correction, Samm!
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« Samm_redux wrote on Wednesday, Nov 18 at 04:56 PM »
temarsh - It is more than just commuter traffic to and from the valley. Anchorage has pretty nearly run out of buildable space; they need the Pt. Mackenzie area to expand. That is impracticle without the causeway/bridge. I would bet you that within 50 years of completing the Knik Arm crossing there will be a "twin city" across the inlet from Anchorage.

This project is good for the entire State, not just Anchorage.
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« Samm_redux wrote on Wednesday, Nov 18 at 04:49 PM »
Oh_please - Wrong bridge. It is down in Ketchikan where the Murkowskis might benefit from a new bridge. Lisa is actually a foe of the Kink Arm causeway/bridge... she lives (or at least owns property) on Government Hill which she and her neighbors think might be hurt by the project.
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« Samm_redux wrote on Wednesday, Nov 18 at 04:45 PM »
allhaileris - Where do you think the Glenn Highway dumps people? Right downtown, that's where.

The Knik Arm crossing would tie directly into the C St. and Gamble/Ingra St./Seward Hwy. infrastructures. It would clean up the traffic not complicate it.
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« temarsh wrote on Wednesday, Nov 18 at 02:30 PM »
Yes the Knik Arm bridge looks like a boondoggle but I've driven on the Glenn Highway at rush hour and traffice is much slower than off-peak times. The bridge could make a large impact on travel times from the valley.

Besides I don't see a problem charging a toll to use the bridge. They can use scanners on a bar-code sticker and bill folks monthly based on the number of trips they make.
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« Oh_please wrote on Wednesday, Nov 18 at 01:33 PM »
An Alaska Transportation Department senior manager says the Knik Arm bridge is still a high priority for the state.

Well golly, I hope so! Don't the Murkowski's have some property over there that stands to appreciate greatly in value with bridge access?
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« Pearl=W wrote on Wednesday, Nov 18 at 11:52 AM »
One of the reasons development and infrastructure is so mucked up in this state, is that the population of the MatSu-Anch area pretty much out-votes every one else. But I don't think that's the case here. I think the pressure for this particular "mega-project" is not popular demand in the area, though it's primary promotors are trying to fly that flag, of course. Trace the hx of land/development speculation in the area, from Statehood on.
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« allhaileris wrote on Wednesday, Nov 18 at 11:24 AM »
This should read "...priority in the Anchorage/Mat-Su area".

Nobody else cares, except that 680,000,000 is a crapload of money to spend on a bridge. So much in fact that users will be charged $5 - $10 each way to use the thing. As designed the bridge would dump all it's traffic into the already congested downtown Anchorage. All this to shave a few minutes off a trip?

Dumb.
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