The proposed Knik Arm Bridge would consist of a toll bridge across Cook Inlet's Knik Arm from Anchorage to virtually unpopulated Point MacKenzie and numerous miles of access roads on both sides of the bridge. To avoid passing through military land, the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority (KABATA) chose a bridge access route through the historic Government Hill neighborhood of Anchorage. To keep costs down, KABATA picked a bridge design consisting of an 8,200 foot bridge attached to a mile of gravel-supported, offshore causeway rather than a longer bridge and little or no gravel-supported causeway.

According to the Federal Highway Administration, the proposed Knik Arm Bridge will cost over $1.5 billion, i.e., vastly more than most Alaska road projects. Because over half of all residents of the Mat-Su Borough work in the Borough and because commuters living in Wasilla and Palmer will not have time or distance savings travelling via the proposed bridge, relatively few Borough workers will benefit.

In November 2005, Congress removed $231 million in earmarks for the proposed bridge, however the State of Alaska still received the money for transportation projects. To date, KABATA staff have not produced a financial plan for funding the bridge, nor have they demonstrated that private investors will cover bridge costs in exchange for toll revenue (an unlikely proposition given reduced private credit worldwide in recent years). Experts hired by the state have written that the project has extraordinary financial risks and, if the project is to proceed, liability will need to be shared by private investors and the state to address the potential for insufficient toll revenue.

For more information, see www.knikbridgefacts.org

Media coverage:

• Our view: No crossing, Anchorage Daily News editorial, April 12, 2009
• Second Knik Arm bridge report puts cost at $686 million, Anchorage Daily News, February 10, 2009
• Video - The other bridge to nowhere, CNN report, Oct. 1, 2008
• Funding for Alaskan Bridges Eliminated, Washington Post article, November 17, 2005