An independent cost estimate puts the price tag for the Knik Arm Crossing—a.k.a. Don Young’s Way—in Anchorage, Alaska at $686 million (the cost of a four-lane span would be $811 million). Though this estimate is not out of line with another recent estimate provided by the local entity responsible for the project, this does not include several costs that could dramatically increase this total: project oversight, which this report estimates would add between 5 and 10 percent; the cost of upgrading local roads in Anchorage, which will cost an additional $44 million; and the additional cost of financing, which has previously been estimated to drive the total cost to over $1 billion. The feasibility of the project rests on motorists paying a $5 toll for every trip across the bridge.
The Knik Arm Bridge gained national prominence when Rep. Don Young (R-AK) and then-Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) secured $229 million in earmarks for the project in the 2005 national transportation bill. Despite the earmark having later been removed from the bill, Alaska was allowed to keep the money, and this has allowed the project to continue moving forward. To date, the State has spent more than $40 million, mostly drawn from federal sources, on studies and salaries related to the project. The proposed Knik Arm Crossing would connect Anchorage to a largely undeveloped portion of the Mat-Su Borough across the Cook Inlet.
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