Final work set for ferry

PALMER — The Mat-Su Borough Assembly has agreed to pay $998,385 to finish design work for a ferry landing at Port MacKenzie.

The money will go to PND Engineers to complete the work it started on floating docks to accommodate both the ferry and another vessel.

“I’m real happy with both the firm and the price that we’ve negotiated,” port director Marc Van Dongen said.

PND will also likely design the Anchorage landing for a price the Mat-Su Borough will negotiate later, Van Dongen said. The timeframe is tight for getting a dock built in time for the spring 2010 delivery of the M/V Susitna — the name the borough has given to the ice-breaking military prototype that will cross the Knik Arm.

“We lost two years negotiating with (Anchorage) Mayor (Mark) Begich,” he said.

Begich, now a U.S. senator, had opposed landing the ferry in Anchorage at the Mat-Su Borough’s preferred site at the end of Ship Creek.

“If we get the Port MacKenzie landing designed, all we’re waiting for is a new mayor,” Van Dongen said.

He said in two months’ time, once Anchorage has selected Begich’s replacement, the borough will sit down as soon as possible with the new mayor. One of the borough’s priorities will be to see if it can’t shorten the trestle arm it will need to build out to the dock the borough wants in Anchorage.

He said if the dock is shortened it as much as the bourough would like, it could save about $7 million on the project.

As of now, on the Anchorage side, Van Dongen said the landing will cost about $22 million plus $2.5 million for contingencies. On the Point MacKenzie side, the cost will be $12.1 million with $2 million for contingencies. The borough is looking at the possibility of getting at least some of that money from the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority, the body set up to look at a bridge across the Arm. The body has unspent funds and the bridge project appears stalled.

Van Dongen said he hopes the Point MacKenzie landing will be done in time for the ferry to be delivered in spring of 2010. The ferry will then dock at Point MacKenzie until the Anchorage landing can be completed. By the end of October 2010, Van Dongen said the borough hopes to be making regular runs bringing commuters across the Arm.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.