Knik Arm Bridge in Dire Straits

This story has been developing since as early as November, shortly after the election, but now I think would be a good time to provide a brief recap on what has been happening with regards to the Knik Arm Bridge. Basically, with the state facing a huge deficit crisis due in part to the declining price of oil, the state, and the newly elected Walker administration that was elected to lead it, are now in full blown austerity mode as trimming down the budget becomes imperative. With that, it was not so surprising to see that shortly after being sworn in at the beginning of December, Governor Bill Walker has gutted the financing for the Knik Arm Bridge and the proposed road to Juneau, among other mega projects. Not so surprising considering that the bridge had long had a target on its back going back a decade due to the millions in federal dollars that it depends on. In late December the governor announced that he was bringing a halt to the Knik Arm Crossing and other projects which meant that KABATA (the state financed group overseeing the project) cannot enter into new contracts or carry out further expenditure activities indefinitely. Shortly afterwards, the DOT commissioner sent out a memo defending the Knik Arm Crossing and Juneau road project citing the consequences of not spending the federal money given for the projects. In response, Governor Walker promptly fires the commissioner with spokeswoman Grace Jang citing that Walker wants the priorities of his commissioners to align with his. Catching up to yesterday, January 19th, Walker has announced that the eminent domain process that KABATA has been using to seize and demolish properties to make way for the bridge landing will come to an end. The eminent domain actions by KABATA were particularly controversial due to the fact that they were seizing properties despite the bridge being far from being a sure thing (and we're talking before Walker's election). Some Government Hill residents accused KABATA of seizing property as a means to gain momentum on its side and make the project look more inevitable and hopeless to fight against. Last year Tesoro announced it was closing the neighborhood's only gas station and convenience store due to expectation that it was going to have to close. The little Subway restaurant across the street was also slated for eminent domain but has remained open. In his announcement, Governor Walker said he can relate to the business owner of the Subway shop and the service and employment provided to the neighborhood by it.

Since the beginning of this blog seven years ago, it has always been the position of Anchorage Joop to oppose the Knik Arm Crossing. Yes, this is a construction oriented blog that admittedly gets excited when large projects are in the works. But this is an excitement for projects within Anchorage. The Knik Arm Crossing is a project that leads out of Anchorage. Leading out with the bridge would be new development as the project would encourage a land rush on undeveloped land and continue unplanned suburban sprawl. In the process, Anchorage's tax base faces the threat of shrinking as the metro region takes on an identity more like that of a city in the Lower 48 in which the wealth is concentrated in the suburbs, leaving the city in dire financial straits. Only two groups have an interest in this bridge: Mat-Su officials, and private developers. Mat-Su officials have long favored the project as it would of course deliver economic growth to the Mat-Su Borough. In fact the Borough has been so eager for this project that they earlier attempted a now failed ferry operation that was suppose to float cars between Anchorage and Point McKenzie and serve as a prelude to the bridge's construction. Now the Borough is stuck with an unusable ferry, the federal government demanding its money back, and struggling to find a buyer (their latest interested buyer is a car rental company from Turkey). Meanwhile developers are salivating at the opportunities that come with opening land on the other side for it means they can relive the glory days of the 1970s when cheap undeveloped land was to be found in the Anchorage bowl for which another strip mall could be placed. For many developers, what matters is their bottom line, not the consequences that come with their preference for unrestricted deregulated development that is free of any long range city planning. The consequences range from the increase of traffic, to more incidents involving wild animals, an expanding city budget to cover roads and sewers, worsening health effects promoted by a lifestyle that discourages walking, and an aesthetically unpleasing cityscape. Now that Anchorage finds itself hemmed-in in each direction due to its geographic boundaries, the city is finding for the first time that it must rethink the way it grows. This is an exciting time to be in Anchorage for the city is finding itself in a transition. Increasingly vanishing is the practice of building on virgin ground as developers now find themselves increasingly having to redevelop previously built upon land. In the process, the cityscape is starting to mature. Trailer parks and pipeline era commercial properties are being replaced with more thoughtful higher density developments. With the city promoting redevelopment and higher density construction through its updated codes and long range plans, the transition is only expected to continue. A severe housing shortage makes the need for higher density developments more acute.

If the Knik Arm bridge is built, it will be a puncture that will deflate all the momentum Anchorage has going for it to transition into a higher density more walkable city. This is why I am very pleased with the decisions of  the Walker administration. I think it's safe to say Walker is also the man of the hour in the Government Hill community, which has fought a very emotional battle against KABATA for a decade now. Government Hill residents have been on the front lines of this battle, and for their decades long activism, AnchorageJoop salutes them.

btw check out Knik Bridge Facts, which I have had as a link for the last few years. Hasn't been updated since November, but there is loads of information over there.

AMATS moves Knik Arm Bridge to short term list

As if we didn't see it coming, AMATS (the 5 member board that oversees federally funded transportation priorities for the South Central region of the state including Anchorage) has moved the Knik Arm Bridge project from the long term list of priorities back to the short term. Late last year when Anchorage Mayor Begich was still in office, he and two anti-bridge Assembly members voted in a 3 to 2 majority over the two pro-bridge members from the state DOT to move the project into the list of long term projects. This would mean that more immediate and much needed projects that actually affect Anchorage and Valley residents would take priority and become reality. But not long after this was achieved, the mayors from the Mat-Su including disgraced mayor Roger Purcell of Houston (not Houston, TX for you outsiders) took AMATS to court saying that public hearings on the decision were not made. The mayors from the Valley knew full well that if the court struck down the AMATS decision, then the process would start all over but with one major change -- pro-bridge Dan Sullivan is now mayor of Anchorage. Now the majority swings in the favor of the Knik Arm Bridge proposal 3 to 2. For those not in the know, AMATS decisions aren't usually done before the public in the first place. But of course the mayors of Houston and Wasilla see the bridge as a benefit since obviously the bridge landing will be in the Mat-Su and in turn bring opportunities of economic growth at the expense of the Anchorage economy and tax base.

If you've been following this blog for a while, you know I'm not supportive of this project. While I may be a cheerleader for steel beams rising into the air and just about any construction project going on in Anchorage (and the world for that matter), the bridge would be a death knell for the city for both business and residents. Figures already show that toll costs would take decades to cover the cost of the bridge -- a cost that is rising every year since the bridge committee known as KABATA was formed about 10 years ago. At this point the bridge is somewhere in the hundreds of millions... exact numbers are impossible to know as they keep changing every time the latest story on the Bridge to Nowhere is published. Should the bridge be built, funds from AMATS would be sucked dry by the bridge depriving both Anchorage and the Valley of important transport projects that were handed to us via AMATS by the federal government. Why blow what we have in federal money on a bridge that a news source found would actually take LONGER for Valley commuters to get from Anchorage to the Valley and back (in addition to paying a toll)? Most importantly, a bridge linking Anchorage with the sparsely populated western end of the Mat-Su Borough would inevitably lead to urban sprawl as far as the eye can see. Anchorage is in the process of replacing temporary strip malls, dusty parking lots, and other ramshackle buildings with more permanent easy on the eye buildings as developable land runs out and property values rise. From a visual standpoint, Anchorage is on the threshold of looking like a real city. With businesses and residents leaving the city, what happens to our tax base? City funds will drain, quality of schools and other quality of life issues will decrease provoking a further exodus and turn Anchorage into the likes of other cities in the Lower 48. We know these cities -- hundreds of thousands if not millions commute into cities only to repeat their 2 hour commute back in the evening. Unlike Phoenix, Atlanta, or Houston, among others that spread beyond the horizon, Anchorage isn't surrounded by flat plains. The cost to maintain miles and miles of sewer lines, streets, lights, etc etc is non existent due to our limited growth space.

I love my construction projects, but projects that come at the expense of the economic, social, and financial well being of every one of us is not cool.

btw I hope I don't come off as purely alarmist. A project being listed on the short term list doesn't mean that it will happen. Just a disclaimer..

Independent study: Nearly $700M for Knik Arm Crossing

You may remember awhile ago the state DOT commissioned a consultant independent of KABATA to study the presumably higher amount of money it would cost to go ahead with the Knik Arm Crossing. KABATA put the new cost at around $683 million while this report has it at $686 million and over $800 million should the bridge be expanded from a two lane toll bridge to four lanes. Additonal costs such as construction oversight and other possible factors that could come into play were not included in this new calculation, according to the ADN. Overall, the report stated "The design and construction risks for this project are extraordinarily high," however the report also said success can be achieved if the parties involved in the bridges construction can come up with solutions when it comes to responsibility of handling the project so as to keep it above water.

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