| September 30, 2005 Remember The Knik Arm Ferry? by Brian Yanity, insurgent49 To criticize Alaskan development projects without suggesting any feasible alternative economic development is what progressives in the Great Land have long been accused of. But in the case of the Knik Arm Bridge project, there is a viable alternative already in the works. Knik Arm does not need a bridge, it needs a ferry. The official Knik Arm Ferry website describes it best: The ferry would provide Mat-Su residents
an alternative to driving into Anchorage and would provide Anchorage
residents easy access to Port MacKenzie worksites. It is expected that
commuter ferry ridership would increase as the Port MacKenzie area
grows. Additionally, people accessing the Point MacKenzie area for
recreational purposes, such as snowmobiling, fishing, and camping are
expected to use the ferry.
As currently planned, ferry landings would be constructed off the existing Dock of Port MacKenzie and at one of the alternative sites in Anchorage. The proposed ferry would hold approximately 50 cars and 150 passengers. It would be approximately 220 ft long and would draft about 13 ft. It is expected that the total ferry transit time would take about 30 minutes. The idea for a ferry system has been discussed as long as a bridge proposal, dating back to around 1975. Don Young has intentionally tried to keep the Knik Arm ferry proposal low-key. This is because publicity of the ferry would make the Knik Arm Bridge proposal look even stupider. However, the Knik Arm Ferry received $5 million in the transportation bill recently passed by the U.S. Congress; the same bill that allotted $229 million to the Knik Arm Bridge. Ferries
have proven themselves to be economically viable all over the
U.S.
In Washington, and extensive ferry system connects King County (pop. 1,800,000 including Seattle) to Kitsap County (pop. 230,000 including Bainbridge Island and Bremerton). In New York City, the Staten Island Ferry connects Manhattan (pop. 1,600,000) to Staten Island (pop. 460,000). However, neither in Seattle or New York is there any thought of building a bridge or tunnel across the concerned waterways, because the ferry system is much more cost effective. It helps us to remember that Anchorage and Mat-Su presently have a combined population of 350,000, an order of magnitude less than the number of people left homeless by Hurricane Katrina. According to a well-researched article in the August 14, 2005 edition of the Alaska Journal of Commerce, the Knik Arm ferry proposed to begin operation in 2007. Cost of ferry and support facilities will be $38 million, or a lot less than a half-billion dollar bridge. The big boosters’ idea is to send the ferry to work elsewhere in the state when the Knik Arm Bridge (Don Young’s Way) is finished. Alaska’s ever-increasing trade with Asia justifies expansion of Port MacKenzie, but not a bridge. Do we really want to turn Point MacKenzie and the Big Lake area into a generic freeway suburb? The Mat-Su Borough is trying to continue the disease of suburbia. James Howard Kunstler, author of The Geography of Nowhere, has called the post-WWII suburbia phenomenon “greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world.” This led to the dismemberment and socio-economic dislocation of inner city communities across the nation. Both Anchorage and the Mat-Su Borough need to grow up, not out. Let us emphasize the grow up part, since we are no longer frontier boomtowns. “Don’t move, improve” should become a motto for the entire Anchorage/Mat-Su metropolitan area. Political maturity, not mindless boosterism, is needed for a sustainable future. The Knik Arm Bridge And Toll Authority (KABATA) was created by the state legislature in June 2003. On the KABATA website, a column that is called “Project Facts” lists an opinion poll as the main fact. 59% of the public polled by the Daily News
in July 2004 said that the Knik Arm Crossing was the next Big Project
that should be done, now that the new Concourse C at the airport has
been completed.
This fall, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Knik Arm Bridge project will be circulated to the public with series of public meetings in Anchorage and Mat-Su Borough. Therefore, the next few months are going to be a critical time to change public opinion here in Alaska about the Knik Arm Bridge project. The tides of local public opinion on such a wasteful project may have started to turn with the recent hurricane disasters down South. We need a ferry across Knik Arm, not a bridge. For More Information: http://www.knikarmferry.com http://www.knikarmbridge.com Brian Yanity is a student activist and freelance journalist who resides in an undisclosed location in Southcentral Alaska. He can be reached at byanity@insurgent49.com. |
-
Columnists -
- also by this
writer -
|
||||||
| Copyright
2005
Insurgent Media. All Rights
Reserved. in-sur-gent (in sur'jent), n. 1. a member of a group which revolts against the policies of its leadership. |
|||||||
