Juneau road a project that makes sense

In his April 13 Spectrum piece, Kevin Brown describes his “dream budgeting process” for spending on capital projects and suggests Governor Palin might agree with his criteria. He uses the proposed Juneau road as an example of a project that fails to meet his standards.

In fact, the Juneau road meets and exceeds Mr. Brown’s requirements for funding and is an excellent example of a project that models good public policy and should be aggressively pursued. Below, we answer Mr. Brown’s four questions with accurate facts:

Does the project deal with an important problem?

Yes, several.

Juneau is not situated on an island, yet is accessible only by air or the Alaska Marine Highway System. Ferries are expensive to operate and maintain. To continue the current level of service in Lynn Canal for the next 10 years, including re-capitalization, will cost the state about $450 million, $100 million more than the estimate to construct the road.

Alaska’s 11-vessel fleet is aging. Replacing one mainline ferry will cost between $250 million and $500 million. The Juneau road is estimated to cost $350 million, the approximate price of one mainline ferry. Building the road eliminates the need for 1.5 mainline ferries.

Ferry travel is expensive and often inconvenient. In 2008, a family of four in a 16-foot vehicle will pay $468 to travel 160 miles roundtrip between Juneau and Haines. With the road, the cost will be the cost of gas plus $75-$80 for a short shuttle ferry ride.

Because cars have become 97 percent cleaner in recent decades and often average 20-25 mpg, vehicle travel is more eco-friendly. Ferries, however, consume thousands of gallons of marine-grade diesel fuel. Most of the energy a ferry burns is used to move its own weight. Vehicles transported by ferries get an equivalent of 1.5 miles per gallon.

Will the Juneau road actually accomplish what it sets out to do?

Yes. The purpose of the Juneau Access Project is to provide capacity to meet demand, increase opportunity to travel, reduce travel time, reduce state cost and reduce traveler cost. The road addresses all these elements.

Upper Lynn Canal summer ferry service offers at best one round-trip sailing a day. With a road and short shuttle ferry there will be more than 10 shuttle ferry sailings daily. Reservations would not be necessary, allowing visitors from Mat-Su to drive down and enjoy summer fishing while we drive north for the state fair.

The goal is to provide more efficient, cost-effective transportation. By reducing the length of the Lynn Canal ferry run by 75 miles, travelers would pay less, have greater opportunity to travel and enjoy shorter travel times.

Is the project a cost-effective and efficient way of dealing with the issue?

Yes. The only way to control costs and improve transportation is to lengthen highways wherever possible and shorten ferry runs. Shorter ferry runs use smaller ships, resulting in significantly lower capital costs, smaller crews and less fuel usage, yet provide better service at lower cost to the state and travelers.

Only .5 percent of the vehicular traffic in Alaska occurs on ferries. The annual state cost to operate and maintain ferries is $140 million, of which the state pays $95 million. For every $3 it costs to operate the ferry system, the state pays $2 and users $1.

The annual state cost to maintain highways is $74 million. Highways generate more than $75 million in gas tax receipts and licensing and registration fees, and virtually pay for themselves.

Financing for the Juneau road, through the use of federal dollars dedicated to infrastructure development, has been designed to not take transportation funds from other state projects. Reducing ferry subsidies frees unrestricted general fund dollars that can be used for any project in Alaska.

With the enormous annual cost savings, the Juneau road is self-financing and once built can be capitalized in 20 years.

Finally, is this something the people want?

Yes. Mr. Brown errs when he states, “The people of Juneau actually voted against this when then-Governor Murkowski was fighting so hard to push the road through.”

The only vote in Juneau concerning the road happened in October 2000, about two years before Governor Murkowski took office. Juneau residents did not vote against this project; rather, by a margin of 79 percent of 11,601 votes, they supported improved ferry service. Several scientific polls conducted since 2000 indicate most Juneau residents support the road. The Juneau Assembly has twice endorsed the road by resolution.

Governor Knowles tried to provide improved ferry service by purchasing two fast ferries that began service in 2004. That experiment failed because the vessels are too fragile and fuel costs too high.

One final note — ferries are constructed in Louisiana or Mississippi. Alaskans build roads.

Richard J. Knapp of Juneau served as Commissioner of Transportation under Gov. Bill Sheffield and is chairman of Citizens Pro Road.