Borough seeks ferry designs

PALMER -- The Mat-Su Borough is looking for a ferry builder. The vessel should carry people, cars, and cargo across the Knik Arm, be able to rescue survivors if a jet crashed in the water near Anchorage and be sturdy enough to ford the swirling, icy currents of the Arm.

These are just a few of the design features the Mat-Su Borough is seeking for its long-planned ferry to link Port MacKenzie to downtown Anchorage. The ferry also should be able to land at a multitude of sites, such as docks and unimproved locations. It needs to be fast in shallow water and able to serve as a construction base if a bridge over the Arm is ever built.

And it should cost less than $18 million to build.

The borough recently put out a bid for proposals for the design of the ferry, following the release last week of a favorable environmental assessment. This comes at a time when momentum is growing for plans to also build a bridge across the Knik Arm, linking the same two shores.

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, is planning to pursue federal dollars for the Knik Arm Crossing bridge in his role as House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman. And on Thursday Gov. Frank Murkowski signed legislation creating a new state agency, the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority, which was given the power to finance a bridge from downtown Anchorage to the Valley.

But Borough Manager John Duffy stressed Thursday the ferry project and the Knik Arm Crossing bridge plans are not competing with each other.

"The (Alaska congressional) delegation and the Mat-Su Borough would like to see the bridge built, and that's the priority," Duffy said. "However, the delegation understands the borough's need to have some interim transportation between now and when the bridge is in place."

Recent development of the port area some 45 miles southwest of Wasilla has increased interest in the area, Duffy said. The borough is working on leasing a site to an air taxi service looking to develop a water-air service base at the port. A wood chipping business is also operating in the area. And a number of other industries have expressed interest in leasing port property but prefer to know there will soon be transportation to the site, Duffy said.

A ferry could be operational as early as August 2005, rather than the seven to 10 years it could take to build the Knik Arm Crossing, Duffy said. The bridge is expected to cost between $1.1 billion to $2.4 billion, according to estimates. The ferry design is being paid for with grants from the Federal Transit Administration, Duffy said. Ultimately, the borough expects to build it with a combination of federal, state and local funds.

The bridge project is expected to be funded through the federal highway budget also, with state contributions and bonding, according to Young spokesman Steve Hansen. If a bridge did open, the ferry may no longer be needed to carry people and supplies between Anchorage and Mat-Su. In that case, the borough could sell the boat or use it for other cargo.

"We can redeploy it or use it for other types of things to move certain freight," Duffy said.

In this initial phase of the ferry project, the borough is seeking short concept papers. Then the borough will award $50,000 each to as many as three bidders to further develop their concepts. One finalist could then be paid as much as $2 million for a preliminary design.

"This is the process used by the federal government for purchasing new technology and vessels," Duffy said. "It's the standard process used by Navy and Coast Guard."

Already a number of companies have expressed interest in the project, Duffy added.

The design will be tricky given the inlet's winter weather conditions and high tidal heights -- some of the highest in North America. And the borough wants a ferry that could possibly do more than traverse the Knik Arm. According to the borough's bid package, possible routes each day could include four trips between Anchorage and Point MacKenzie, two trips back and forth to Kenai and one round-trip to Homer. Also, the ferry may come farther up the coast to Knik, near Settlers' Bay. But Duffy is quick to point out that no market studies have been done to examine if there's a need for ferry links to the Kenai Peninsula.