Anchorage Daily News

With the state asking pointed questions about cost projections for a Knik Arm bridge from Anchorage to Point MacKenzie, the agency charged with creating the crossing released new estimates that outline rising prices and potential costs.

Among the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority's estimates:

• There's a 40 percent chance the bridge would be delayed by a lawsuit late in the permitting process.

• The amount the state might have to pay if something goes wrong ranges from no cost to $113 million. Permitting delays are the biggest potential expense.

• Construction costs would be about $667 million if work started in 2009. But the authority's spokeswoman, Mary Ann Pease, said construction is much more likely to start in 2011, when the bill would rise to about $715 million.

• In the slim chance that traffic across the bridge falls far below projections, the authority might be obligated to pay millions of dollars a year to its private financing partners.

Those numbers and others are the bridge authority's response to an April 22 letter from the state Department of Transportation that expressed concerns about the project's costs. The authority released its roughly 80-page reply Tuesday, in response to a public records request filed with the governor's office by the Anchorage Daily News.

Gov. Sarah Palin said last week she wants to review plans for financing the bridge before moving ahead on the project. The authority hopes private investors will foot most of the bill.

The governor's office and the state transportation and law departments will now review the bridge authority's reply to see if it answers all their questions.

"The state will have to decide whether or not those terms are something it wants to agree to," said Randy Ruaro, special assistant to the governor.

Pease said the bridge authority is looking to answer questions and cooperate with the state and city.

"This is not KABATA out there as the Lone Ranger. That's not where we're going anymore," she said.

One question the state asked was how much the authority would have to pay bridge investors if only a fraction of the expected traffic materialized. The authority said there's only a 10 percent chance they'll have to pay anything, though the cost could be millions of dollars a year.

Bridge backers are at the beginning of a long permitting process. They say they won't try to make a deal with private investors to build the bridge until the state signs off on the plans.

For years, the authority estimated the cost of building the bridge at about $600 million. In its reply to the state, the authority says that figure would be $667 million if construction began next year, factoring in inflation.

The bill would rise to $824 million by 2015, the authority says.

But paying for the bridge is about more than construction costs.

Adding a connection to Ingra and Gambell streets -- to reduce bridge traffic on A and C streets downtown -- could cost another $200 million alone.

In its April 22 letter, the state asked who would pay for that connection. The authority's response mentions several options, including a combination of higher bridge tolls and more state and federal money.

Requiring private investors to pay for the extension is not off the table, Pease said. She said another option is for the state to set up a fund to cover the costs of the extension, which would be repaid with future toll revenues.

Find Kyle Hopkins' political blog online at adn.com/alaskapolitics or call him at 257-4334.

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