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Un-responsive public officials
"We need people who don’t understand to get out of the way so that we can move forward."
- DOT Regional Director Gary Paxton asserting that the Juneau Access Road would be built despite significant opposition from local communities, Juneau Empire (“Juneau Access among top DOT projects”), September 17, 2003
"I'm tired of the bully tactics the state continues to employ in their desire to build a road."
- Mike Korsmo, Skagway City Council, Juneau Empire October 17, 2004
"Governor Frank Murkowski's enthusiasm to build roads knows few bounds. He wants to build roads the way beavers want to build dams."
- Anchorage Daily News Editorial, July 28, 2003
On DOT’s latest plan – a dead end road
"It's akin to a situation in which one child wants a candy bar, another wants a Popsicle, and you give them a tennis ball. It just doesn't make sense."
- Sen. Kim Elton (D-Juneau), quoted in Anchorage Daily News, (“Highway, ferry hybrid proposed for Juneau”), Oct. 31, 2005
"It's another road to nowhere where you have to get on a ferry to get somewhere"
- Skagway City Council member Mike Catsi, quoted in Anchorage Daily News (“Highway, ferry hybrid proposed for Juneau”), Oct. 31, 2005
...one of the biggest transportation boondoggles in the country.
- Taxpayers for Common Sense (“Road to Ruin”), 2004.
Ferries are a better option
“The Environmental Protection Agency says the ferry system is a better option. What the final outcome will be is anyone's guess, but the city should stop wasting time and energy on something that, ultimately, is out of their hands. Instead, why not work together with Skagway and Haines to push for better ferry service? That is something everyone can agree on.”
- Linda Kadrlik, Juneau resident, JE LTE, July 4, 2005
“I…favor dependable overall ferry service to provide safety for lives and to prevent injuries. In the long run, this would be more cost-effective than the road. We all have to realize that the ferry system has done a great deal to bolster the economy and well-being for the people of Southeast Alaska. We should continue to support it.”
87-year Juneau resident Dean Williams, LTE to JE, March 8, 2005
“The truth is that a new road would isolate us more. We need better ferry service…The ferry system is part of the magic that makes Southeast Alaska so wonderful. Travelers from Outside love it. They stop in Haines, they spend money here; this economy depends on them…I ask [the State] just to give us the ferry service we need and want, and scrap the road.”
- Deborah Vogt, Haines resident, LTE to JE, March 1, 2005
“I think we're just fooling ourselves if we believe the proposed road from Juneau to Skagway will be a safe and reliable way to get in and out of Juneau… The road is a waste of money. How about taking the $281 million for the road and using at least part of it to improve and expand ferry service? The leftovers can go to places in the rest of the state that have necessary roads.”
- Jai Crapella, Juneau resident, LTE to JE, February 15, 2005
Environmental Impacts
“The Juneau road would completely dispose of 30 acres of wetlands and would be within a half-mile of 100 eagle nests and within 33 yards of two critical breeding grounds for sea lions. As members of the Juneau youth community, we are especially concerned because this is our future. As lovers of the Alaskan wilderness and wildlife, we think it would be an unnecessary risk to the animals of this territory and think spending the money on what would primarily be considered a "convenience" would be a massive waste and a huge mistake.”
- Carly Craig and Gretchen Dierking, JE LTE, April 4, 2005
"[The Juneau road] will destroy prime moose habitat."
- Robert “Swede” Haffner, quoted in JE article (“Road would change the landscape of recreation”), March 17, 2005.
Impacts to local communities
“The Juneau road would "wipe us out."
- Mike O'Daniel, vice president of Skagway Air, whose business relies on Skagway-to-Juneau flights, quoted in JE article (“Economic engine”), March 18, 2005
“The Juneau road doesn't enjoy popular support in any of the communities it would allegedly serve.”
- Dimitra Lavrakas, Skagway resident, LTE to JE, March 15, 2005
"That road will eventually be the death of this business…You go all through this country where roads have bypassed little towns and see what's left of those towns. Nothing. You build a community where you spend your money. And there's a lot of leakage that goes into Whitehorse. The road will be another outlet. Eventually there will be none left."
- Skagway resident Ed Fairbanks, who has owned the Fairway Market since 1960, quoted in the JE (“Skagway’s next fork in the road”), March 20, 2005. The market contributes $10,000 to $11,000 a year in property taxes, collects $170,000 in sales taxes, pays half a million dollars in wages and $60,000 to the power company and is the largest shipper of freight in town.
"I didn't move here to be a little spot in the side of the road, like a truck stop…The people here that are active (and) like having winter to ourselves…The road would end all that. I'm totally against it”
- Twenty-year Skagway resident and carving artist Jack Inhofe, quoted in the JE (“Skagway’s next fork in the road”), March 20, 2005.
“Maybe [Steve Vick’s Lynn Swim protesting the Juneau Road] will help illuminate for others the negative and irreversible quality of life impacts that the proposed Juneau road would convey to so many Southeast Alaska residents.”
- Michael Klensch, Skagway resident, Juneau Empire (JE) Letter to the Editor (LTE), August 3, 2005
“They have to take care of the roads we have now before being able to maintain a road from Juneau."
- Lorraine Kasko, Klukwan resident, quoted in JE (“Sad shape of rural roads stirs elder's skepticism”), March 18, 2005
“I have spent my entire life here in Juneau. I don't like any part of the Juneau road plan. It's expensive, damaging and unnecessary.”
Jake Ritter, Juneau resident, LTE to JE, February 17, 2005
February 20, 2005
Southeast Alaska residents have another month to tell the state what they think about the proposed road that would take away Juneau's dubious distinction of being the largest city in North America not connected to the highway system.
But as people offer their comments on the state's preferred plan - a 68.5 mile, two-lane highway from Juneau to Skagway - they should focus not on the road of their dreams, but on the road that would exist in reality.
For many, the road would bring the psychological freedom of knowing they can hop in their cars and drive out of here. It's also been touted by some as a cheaper alternative to the state ferry system, and it's been believed by many who have worked hard to keep the state capital in Juneau to be an important way to fend off future capital-move efforts.
The recent draft supplemental environmental impact statement has taken away the notion that the road would be cheaper than maintaining the ferry system as it is now. Instead, the road would cost $7 million more than ferries would over 30 years.
Proponents argue the cost savings would be realized by citizens, rather than the state, because driving out of town would be cheaper than buying a ferry ticket. But it doesn't make sense for the state to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a project so that it doesn't cost as much for someone to go golfing in Whitehorse.
Instead, if the $280 million road is going to be built, it needs to be done for a significant improvement in the economy or overall quality of life in Juneau.
However, the study shatters the idea that the road would trigger major economic development or population growth for Juneau. What the road would do is boost the number of independent travelers and the industry that caters to them. An additional 78,000 people would come to Juneau in 2008, if the state's favored plan is chosen, according to the state study.
Recreational vehicles would be expected to triple or quadruple in number in the first year of the road's existence. Businesses that serve RVs would no doubt flourish, but the influx of traffic would require more upkeep of roads, more parking around town and more space for RV parks.
In the past, finding land suitable for RV parks has been tough. The shortage of land in Juneau already has created sky-high housing and land prices. Increased demand for the limited property available is likely to make the cost of real estate in Juneau even worse.
The road also unfortunately would not be the safeguard against future capital move efforts that some would like it to be. Many Alaskans who live in the north would rather fly to Juneau than drive some 800 miles to visit the Alaska Legislature.
Some argue the road must be endorsed because it would lessen Juneau's image as an isolated, inaccessible city. But much of the impetus for the capital move comes from state leaders who want the capital in their own backyards because of the economic gains for their own communities.
The access issue won't lessen that. Instead of building a road that would be used by few visiting the Legislature, access to lawmakers needs to be enhanced in genuine ways - by state-of-the-art teleconferencing and a building that has ample room for public hearings.
The costs of blasting a path up Lynn Canal and maintaining a road that crosses 61 avalanche chutes are enormous. Add to that the loss of 629 acres of forest, 31 acres of fish habitat and 93 acres of wetlands, as well as loss of brown bear habitat. For those kinds of costs, the city should be getting more than just thousands of RVs to crowd our local roadways.
Largely, support for the road boils down to people liking the freedom of being able to drive out of town for a weekend in Haines, Skagway or Whitehorse. But even those who savor that freedom need to keep in mind that that freedom won't exist 35 days each year - the amount of time the road would be closed because of avalanche risks.
Those who couldn't make this week's public hearings should go to the state's Web site for Juneau Access, which can be found through www.dot.state.ak.us, and send comments by March 21. Juneau residents should urge the state to drop the road and not waste money on a project that would add little to our lives, except thousands of RVs.
“Retaining the marine highway rather than road-building would "most effectively avoid and minimize potential adverse environmental impacts."
- Environmental Protection Agency
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