SPECTRUM: Knik Arm Crossing will 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 Matanuska-Susitna Borough (MSB) has tremendous needs for new infrastructure. It’s Alaska’s hottest region—the second largest and fastest growing Borough in Alaska and the 42^nd fastest growing county in the United States. This growth is attributable to the region’s high quality of life and affordable land and homes. The Knik Arm Bridge will support this rapid population growth, allowing for more residential and commercial development in southern areas of the Borough.

The Knik Arm Bridge will create jobs immediately—about 1,500 construction related jobs. After completion it will 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 a house, a reliable vehicle, 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, with Alaskans, and allow a whole new generation to get job training and work experience while earning a fair wage.

There are other good reasons to build the bridge--the bridge will support the Goose Creek Correctional Center. Opened in 2012, the 1,500 prisoner facility located in Point MacKenzie the Knik Arm Crossing will 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 both the facility and over 600 employees are expected to be significant.

The bridge will 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. The 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 from Houston to Port MacKenzie that will support mining jobs in the Interior. Many Alaskans, both 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 Knik Arm Crossing is potentially the most important piece of transportation infrastructure that this state will see for a century. I think the bridge will give us the shot in the arm that we need to keep the economy humming for generations to come.

Roger Purcell, a 52-year resident of Alaska, is a consultant, former Mat Su Platting Board member and former mayor and council member for the City of Houston.