The Bridge to Nowhere

[JustMyOpinion]

Our town in Alaska sorely needed a bridge to its airport. Instead, we became a national punch line.

By Dave Kiffer | NEWSWEEK

Two years ago the small Alaska town of Ketchikan, where five generations of my family have lived, became the poster child for all that is wrong with the United States government. We wanted a bridge to connect us to our airport, which is on a different island from our town. The bridge had been promised to us 30 years ago when the government chose—over the objections of many in this community—to put our new airport across the narrows from Ketchikan. Unfortunately, when it finally arrived, the money for that bridge came in the form of a congressional earmark.

Source/Full Article:

www.newsweek.com/id/165478?GT1=43001

[Mink]

I hope this is one of the many, many articles Palin reads. She is lucky Alaska is forgiving.

[bolverk]

Yes, well let's see if Obama is reading the Wall Street Journal. Because he has egg on his face.

[jgaffney]

I think we have discussed this at length in some earlier threads. But, let's rehash some of the earlier points:

1. It's true that the city of Ketchikan is on one side of the bay and the international airport is on the other side. The only way to get across currently is by ferry, which is subject to weather and is not conducive to expansion of commercial traffic and, hence, the growth of Ketchikan.

2. The federal Highway Bill is the mechanism for returning gas tax revenues to the states. It was never intended to be a source of general revenue. Right here in Sonoma County, we are enjoying the benefits of some earmarks in earlier highway bills as we complete the widening of Hwy 101. But, I guess there are good earmarks and there are bad earmarks.

3. The earmark for the Alaskan bridge would only fund a portion of the bridge. When Gov. Palin realized that the funding was still a long ways away, she decided to re-direct the money to other highway projects in Alaska. But, it was still Alaska's money, to spend within that state.

There has been a major push among the states, supported by the consruction industry, to do away with the Highway Trust Fund and federal gas taxes. This fund was originally set up by Eisenhower to build the interstate system. Now that the system is basically complete, it's time to devolve that function back to the states. The federal gas taxes would be replaced with state gas taxes, and the money would stay in the state, instead of being redistributed by the House Transportation Committee.

This idea has been strongly opposed by Congress, especially Congressment from states that get back more than they put in. The Highway Trust Fund is another off-budget source of money, just like the Social Security Trust Fund, that Congress uses to reduce the federal deficit every year, hiding the true nature of federal spending.

Your money, your choice. Do you want your gas taxes spent on transportation or the Farm Bill?