Anchorage Daily News

In recent weeks a lot of newsprint has been expended regarding the downsides of moving ahead with construction of the Lynn Canal highway. Objections range from the potential danger of avalanches, concerns for the environment, perceived difficulties with design and construction and the high cost of the project, currently estimated by the Department of Transportation at $374 million.

Though emphasis varies with the specific interests of the critics, universal concern centers on the cost of the project and the effect on other projects throughout the state.

The governor has recently taken what appears to be a less favorable position on the road than she reportedly held at the outset of her term.

When queried by a local reporter as to my reaction to her apparent shift, I voiced mild disappointment, hoping that her current position is merely a "time out" while she reviews "the bidding."

Currently, surface transportation between Juneau and Haines and Skagway is furnished by the Alaska Marine Highway System. Opponents of the highway contend that such service is tried and true and just needs to be improved. Unfortunately no one has come up with an improvement plan that will stand the test of a profit and loss statement; and no one ever will, because the demographics of the region do not support a standard business model. Recent operating budgets of Alaska Marine Highway are about $150 million a year. Of this amount, roughly $50 million is revenue and $100 million is state subsidy. In the Lynn Canal corridor, annual operating costs are about $20 million -- approximately $8 million in revenue and around $12 million in state subsidy.

Current DOT estimates for maintaining the Lynn Canal highway are less than $2 million annually, so construction of the road would result in a savings of at least $10 million a year in unrestricted general fund dollars. These are funds that could be used for any purpose within the state, including improving ferry service on other routes.

Notwithstanding the savings realized on the operating side of the ledger, concerns remain when one addresses a capital expenditure of $374 million for the road. What the anti-road lobby fails to acknowledge is that this money cannot be used for general purposes throughout the state, (education, sanitation, potholes, etc.). Ninety percent of the $374 million, or $337 million, represent federal funds restricted to the development and construction of transportation infrastructure.

Translation? This money cannot be used to fix potholes or for general road maintenance.

The question for our governor is to decide whether it would be best to build the road or build new mainline ferries at a cost of around $350 million each. Construction of a Lynn Canal highway would reduce the fleet requirement by 1.5 ships' worth of service by a mainline vessel. Assuming then that only one mainliner required replacement over the next 10 years, one might argue that it's a wash whether the money is put into the road or the ferry.

However, replacing a mainliner would not necessarily improve the service and the state would still be faced with an operating subsidy of $12 million a year on that route.

Further, most of the ships in the 11-vessel fleet face replacement over the next 10 years. Replacing ships at $350 million each, even with federal funds, will exert pressures on other critical projects, making the subsidy savings realized from the highway even more significant. Besides, why export jobs to Louisiana or Mississippi, where the ferries would probably be built? Alaskans would be put to work building the highway.

The Southeast Alaska Transportation Plan is right on target in its advocacy for building roads wherever possible and augmenting with suitable shuttle ferries. The results in this case would appear to be win-win for all concerned. Construction of the Lynn Canal highway would represent a significant contribution to transportation infrastructure in the state, regional economic and social ties will be strengthened and short- and long-term jobs will created in a region in need of economic stimulus.

Conclusion: Build the road. It's not going to get any cheaper.

Richard Knapp was state commissioner of transportation under Gov. Bill Sheffield and is involved with a group in Juneau that advocates construction of the Lynn Canal highway.

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