Knik Arm bridge would create jobs and economic development

Does Alaska have enough jobs? I don’t know about you, but I think most of us would like to see the economy continue to expand. One of the most important ways the state can help the growth of the economy is by creating infrastructure, and one of Alaska’s most important infrastructure projects is the Knik Arm crossing.

The Mat-Su Borough has tremendous needs for new infrastructure. It’s Alaska’s hottest region — the fastest growing borough in Alaska and the 42nd fastest growing county in the United States. This growth is attributable to the region’s high quality of life and affordable land and homes. A Knik Arm bridge would support this rapid population growth and allow for more residential and commercial development in southern areas of the borough.

A Knik Arm bridge would create jobs immediately — about 1,500 construction-related jobs. After completion, it would continue spurring the economy through the construction of new homes and the establishment of new businesses. The resulting residential, commercial and retail development is expected to create another 14,000 jobs within 35 years.

I think 1,500 jobs every year for four years of construction is a heck of a lot of jobs.

These would be good jobs with wages that one can raise a family on — wages that are spent locally on things like homes, a reliable vehicles and food for the table.

Constructing a bridge this size will require heavy equipment operators, steel workers, stevedores, laborers and electrical workers, to name a few. These jobs will be filled, by and large, by Alaskans and allow a whole new generation to get job training and work experience while earning a fair wage.

The proposed bridge would be 9,200 feet long, or about 1.74 miles. It would require more than 75 million pounds of steel in drilled shafts, super structure, substructure reinforcement, curb steel and bridge rail. That’s the equivalent of 25,000, F150 trucks and more than 13 times the steel that went into the Dena’ina Convention Center.

The approach roads would require about 4.5 million cubic yards of gravel and rip rap material to build. That equals 266,000 side dumps of gravel and armor rock to build the 18 miles of roads and causeways. That means jobs for truckers, gravel pits and heavy equipment operators.

There are other good reasons to build the bridge, including that it would support the Goose Creek Correctional Center. Opening this year, the 1,500-prisoner facility located in Point MacKenzie will house more than 1,000 inmates currently held in the Lower 48 due to lack of adequate prison space in our own state.

The Knik Arm crossing project would support this new facility by cutting the travel time of workers and prisoners from the Anchorage-based state court system from a distance of 72 miles to only 9 miles. Fuel and transportation savings for the facility and its more than 600 employees could be significant.

The bridge would also help develop Port MacKenzie. It is the nation’s northernmost deep-water port, and the bridge would cut the distance from 82 miles from downtown Anchorage to only 6 miles. Port MacKenzie is a strategic port that is designed to export bulk commodities such as base and rare earth mineral ores, coal, woodchips and gravel, and to import bulk materials such as cement and steel pipe.

Port MacKenzie Industrial District contains 8,940 acres and is the logical area for expansion of port-related and industrial economic development. The Mat-Su Borough and the Alaska Railroad are constructing a rail spur to Port MacKenzie that will support mining jobs in the Interior. Many Alaskans from Anchorage and the Mat-Su will eventually work at commercial and industrial jobs at Port MacKenzie.

I don’t think we’re done expanding Alaska’s economy by a long shot. The proposed Knik Arm crossing is potentially the most important piece of transportation infrastructure this state will see for a century. I think the bridge will give us the shot in the arm we need to keep the economy humming for generations to come.

Roger Purcell is a 46-year resident of Alaska who lives in Houston.