Alaska Needs Hurricane To Get Bridge

Hurricane Ike gave me some time to think about things and how we spend our money at the federal level. We have a $350 million dollar bridge to so called “nowhere” that was cancelled. We have an entire city sinking by almost an inch a year that we know for a fact. We have an island that got plowed over by the second hurricane in three years and now looks like a bombed out city.

The bridge to “nowhere” would have connected one town to an island of nearly 95 square miles. It had 50 residents there and the area’s only commercial airport. No one wanted to talk about the fact that the bridge was the only area that the neighboring community could grow. No one wanted to talk about this was the “port” most cruise ships visit on their journey to Alaska. No one wanted to talk facts or long term goals.

This is alright if we played the games fair.

Let us look at New Orleans. We spent tens of billions of dollars in emergency help during and right after Hurricane Katrina. This year Hurricane Gustau nearly slammed into New Orleans. But still it will take upwards of a billion dollars to fix this community again. We are spending tens of billions to improve dikes and other things, to make it more “hurricane proof.” By the time all is done, provided no more hurricanes come, the US Government will spend nearly 40 billion dollars.

No one argues that much of the New Orleans area is sinking and will continue to do so at the rate of just under an inch a year. Some studies say the speed of the sinking is growing faster over time.

One would think that a smart government would figure out it would be far cheaper to just buy up much of the lowest areas, pull the dike walls down, and let nature do its’ thing. It would be far cheaper. Plus we all know Mother Nature will win the battle. She always has, and when the perfect storm comes all the dikes, pumps, and sandbags will be scattered in her wake.

Just for giggles think about the global warming factor of our oceans rising three feet from snow and ice melt….. Yep, we will be adding three more feet onto of the tops of the dikes… New Orleans, without question is the biggest money pit in the world!

Now let us move over to Galveston Island, Texas. It is a barrier island that is just about 2/3 the size of the island in Alaska that wanted a bridge. It does have a population of just under 60,000 so that makes it the winner.

In three years it has felt the effects of Hurricane Rita and slammed into by Hurricane Ike. The cost of cleanup and repair will cost a few billion dollars.

Now everyone knows that Interstate 45 goes across a series of small islands to connect to Galveston Island. This includes a number of bridges. One would not have to be too smart to figure out that the bridges cost nearly as much as Alaska’s bridge to “nowhere!” That is if figured at the same “today’s dollar” formula.

Now we will allow people to build back onto a barrier island, commit billions to it, and then watch some hurricane rip it apart again. The cycle will repeat itself over and over, as Mother Nature decides to.

To me it all comes down to “whose backyard is the sandbox in!” The bridge in Alaska would have been there for maybe 50-75 years. Yet in the same time we will spend several hundred times that in rebuilding a barrier island and a sinking city!