The Boondoggle vs. The Bridge from Hell
Imagine yourself as a kid in the schoolyard. Over by the monkey bars, you see a scuffle break out. It’s an all out battle between the class bully and the class jerk. They’re fighting over which one of them gets to pick on the good-hearted skinny kid. The Municipality of Anchorage has filed a lawsuit in federal court. You’ve heard of the “Bridge to Nowhere?” Well, the Muni has sued over what I like to call “The Bridge from Hell” and what others call The Knik Arm Bridge, which would span the Knik Arm of Cook Inlet. But Mayor Sullivan…
Where is the Knik Arm Bridge REALLY Going?
Remember the “Bridge to Nowhere?” Remember the project that was possibly the single biggest contributor to the tainting of the word “earmarks?” That famous title was actually a misnomer. It referred to two Alaska bridges, both funded through the same “earmark” at the time. The actual “Bridge to Nowhere” referred to the Gravina Island Bridge, which was a link from Ketchikan to the island that holds its airport. This was only accessible by ferry and small plane and when hundreds of thousands of visitors pour into Southeast Alaska during the summers, it becomes a problem. This was also the bridge…