"Bridges to Nowhere" is a cute, meaningless sound bite

myself | 16 Nov 2005 | redpoll

[redpoll]

I'm really tired of the "bridges to nowhere" stuff. This is just my opinion as someone who's been here most of my adult life.

[jude24]

You chose to live in a remote part of the country. In a budget crunch, why should the rest of America pay to let you live in a remote village?

Grow up. If you want a bridge to connect you to Anchorage, get Alaska to pay for it. It isn't New York's job to pay for your infrastructure. I still pay tolls on my bridges and highways.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

There is no "nowhere" in Alaska. It's truly God's country. Too bad the British didn't buy it for Canada, when Russia put it on Ebay.

[flashbunny]

tough. You chose to live there. You get the benefits of living there. You want a damn bridge, build it with your own damn money.

Un freaking believable.

[Kirkwood]

Should first be a toll ferry paid by users. If growth indicates the need for a bridge, make it a toll bridge paid for by the users. The Causeway and Crescent City Connection in New Orleans are both structures built and paid for with toll fares, plus we have toll ferries up and down the river.

[Willie Green]

The Mackinac Straits bridge went from lower Michigan to "nowhere."

It still does.

[DumpsterDiver]

why should the rest of America pay to let you live in a remote village?

If I'm remembering correctly, this money was from the federal portion of Alaska's gasoline tax and as transportation money couldn't be spent on other budget items.

redpoll, is that even close to being correct? :)

[redpoll]

Remote villages don't stay that way once they are part of the larger economy. I agree with you about paying tolls, too. However, the taxes from Alaskan oil DO pay for your roads and bridges, in part. We're all Americans.

[redpoll]

Yeah, I think it was specially earmarked for that purpose.

[Kozak]

Need em so bad? Try tapping into that 30 BILLION pile of dough Alaska is sitting on.

[flashbunny]

"We're all Americans."

And platitudes make pork alright!

[SittinYonder]

They're a needed part of the development of the state.

Sounds like an issue for Alaskans. Let me know how it works out, but don't ask me to pay for it.

[Wiseghy]

All right, you convinced me. I actually wish more of your state was available by road. It's beautiful, but just way too hard to get around. Mostly, I blamed environmentalists for this, but I had never really thought through the infrastructure and ROI issues. Probably we could recover some of those investment costs over the long run by being able to better utilize, appreciate and enjoy those resources if we could actually visit them without the danger and expense of small aircraft.

However, there are still some awfully scary pieces of pork in the highway bill which would not stand up to the slightest scrutiny.

[redpoll]

No arguments here - now we're talking about what the infrastructure should be. Make it available. Ferry, drawbridge, causeway, toll bridge - all these are good ideas. Development and economic growth are generally good for people, and you need infrastructure to do it.

[labard1]

"Try tapping into that 30 BILLION pile of dough Alaska is sitting on."

Doesn't every man, woman, and child resident in Alaska get a check from the state government every year (from oil and gas royalties, I believe)?

[Arioch7]

LOL! That is very good.

[flashbunny]

You know, things would be realy great if we could connect all the islands in hawaii to each other. And then connect hawaii to the mainland US.

After all, we're all americans, so we should spend countless millions of dollars to connect all these places so they too can have proper economic development.

What the heck, is this DU now???

[flashbunny]

wow, you're easily convinced.

[ThinkDifferent]

So should every remote village get $250 million in taxpayer funds, or are you special?