Knik bridge lawsuit settled; project is back

Attorneys for the cities of Wasilla and Houston on one side and the joint state-city planning committee that oversees major road and transportation projects for Anchorage on the other told a state judge Tuesday that they've agreed to settle a lawsuit the Mat-Su towns filed a few weeks ago.

Under the settlement, which has not yet been filed formally, the Anchorage Metropolitan Area Transportation Solutions policy committee is agreeing to rescind a decision that would have pushed the bridge project back several years, meaning construction of the crossing, which some Anchorage and Mat-Su leaders have wanted for decades, couldn't have begun until at least 2018.

The mayors of Wasilla and Houston sued over this change of status for the project, arguing they weren't told that decision was being made, and that they didn't have a chance to comment on it. The Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority, the state agency created years ago to push for bridge construction, joined the towns in the lawsuit.

The project, most recently estimated to cost at least $680 million, has other hurdles. The toll authority is still trying to figure out ways to finance it, and the federal government is deliberating on what parts of Knik Arm might be critical habitat for Cook Inlet's beluga whales, which are listed as an endangered species. The habitat decision could affect the bridge's design and cost.

The AMATS committee, which next meets on Aug. 27, has 60 days to rescind its earlier vote. The committee then could decide to take the issue up all over again if the five members want to.

The policy committee admitted no wrongdoing as it agreed to settle the case.

A factor in the decision to settle is that the policy committee is looking at a Sept. 30 deadline for approving the next stage in the city's transportation plan, which covers the years 2010 to 2013. If that decision isn't made on time, it could affect federal funding for other transportation projects.

Bridge critics argue that the crossing project itself affects available federal funding for other, more important Southcentral transportation projects.

Lois Epstein, director of the Alaska Transportation Priorities Project and a member of a technical committee of engineers and planners that advises the policy committee, described the settlement announced Tuesday as "hugely disappointing." She said the Anchorage Assembly as well as the policy committee unanimously approved moving the bridge project back in the transportation plan's timeline.