By a vote of 181-246, the House on Wednesday defeated a Democratic bid to strip HR 662 (above) of funds for building the Gravina Island Bridge linking Ketchikan, Alaska, with an airport on sparsely populated Gravina Island. This is the "bridge to nowhere" lampooned in recent years as an example of wasteful congressional earmarks. While notoriety has cost the Gravina Island project much of its anticipated federal funding since 2005, HR 662 contains $183 million in fiscal 2011 spending for it and the Knik Arm Crossing Bridge, another controversial project in Alaska. This motion sought to remove the $183 million.
Jaime WhatsHerName voted against the Democrats.
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I have mixed feelings about that bridge. Ketchikan's airport is in a ridiculous place, not much more than a stone's throw across the water, and any bridge to it would have to allow big cruise ships to pass under it. The only practical reason for a bridge to Gravina is for airport access, as Ketchikan has to rely on tourism because the fishing industry isn't so hot anymore. It's an awful lot of $$ for one little town in AK.
I had to take that really short ferry ride to the airport once during a Dec. storm that featured 60 mph crosswinds. Which wasn't that unusual, because they get a lot of wind through those straits. I prayed that little ferry boat, w/ my sis on it, all the way back to the Ketchikan side.
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