The proposed bridge across Knik Arm, estimated to cost about $680 million and held up by environmental studies, is still a high priority for the state, a high-level state transportation official told local decision-makers in Anchorage Tuesday.
The AMATS Policy Committee, which makes decisions on how to spend federal transportation money in Anchorage, voted earlier this year to push bridge construction off until after 2018.
When challenged by a lawsuit, AMATS reversed itself and restored the project in the short-range section of Anchorage's transportation plan. But now it is revisiting the question.
Jeff Ottesen, a senior manager for the Alaska Department of Transportation in Juneau, warned shutting the project down would mean the $40 million in public money invested in it goes down the drain. Environmental studies being done now have "a short shelf life," he said.
Ottesen also told AMATS that it is supposed to make its transportation plan in cooperation with the state. And, he said, the committee can't just take Anchorage into account -- it has to consider other parts of the state as well.
The mayors of Houston and Wasilla in the Mat-Su sued over the earlier AMATS decision to delay construction, saying they hadn't had a chance to comment on that idea. The mayors agreed to settle the lawsuit if AMATS rescinded its decision and started over. That's what is happening now.
Two other bodies -- the Anchorage Planning and Zoning Commission and the Anchorage Assembly -- must vote on whether to delay the bridge before the question comes back to the AMATS committee, which gets the final say. The process will take until early next year.
AMATS stands for Anchorage Metropolitan Area Transportation Solutions. The policy committee includes Mayor Dan Sullivan, two Anchorage Assembly members and two state officials.
Ottesen spoke at the end of an AMATS work session in which the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority gave a project update. The bridge authority's chief financial officer, Kevin Hemenway, said the recession hasn't killed chances for financing the bridge. "I'm here to tell you the project is still feasible in the current world market."
The alternatives for paying for the bridge include financing that involves a partnership of private and public entities; selling state revenue bonds to be paid back by tolls from bridge users; and federal and state appropriations, said Hemenway.
But financing will have to wait until the project gets an OK from the Federal Highway Administration, he said.
The final step in environmental approval, a record of decision from the federal agency, is estimated to be almost a year off, said Mary Ann Pease, a consultant for the bridge authority.
The designation of the Cook Inlet beluga whale as an endangered species necessitated new studies that will take several months, Pease said.
Find Rosemary Shinohara online at adn.com/contact/rshinohara or call her at 257-4340.
By ROSEMARY SHINOHARA
rshinohara@adn.com