Bridge to Nowhere costs skyrocket by $67 million

February 12th, 2007

Ketchikan, Alaska - State highway officials have increased their estimate of the costs of the "Bridge to Nowhere" project by $67 million.

The latest estimate is adjusted for future inflation and material costs and puts the entire cost at an astonishing $395 million.

At $395 million, the Gravina Bridge will cost $29,737 per Ketchikan Gateway Borough resident.

In comparison, Boston's Big Dig project-a massive tunneling and highway project and the poster child of government waste, cost less than one-tenth this amount on a per resident basis.

The Gravina Bridge would replace a 7-minute ferry ride from Ketchikan to Ketchikan Airport on Gravina Island.

According to Taxpayers for Common Sense, US taxpayers will subsidize each trip over the Gravina Bridge to the tune of more than $51, compared to about $4 for each Big Dig trip.

Each trip over the Gravina Bridge would cost taxpayers more than twelve times as much as a trip through what's now known as the most wasteful highway project in America's history.