Alaskan Bridge Projects That Drew Ridicule May Be on Ice, but State Will Still Get the Cash

Two proposed bridges in Alaska that became symbols of the excesses of old-fashioned “pork barrel” politics would get the ax -- sort of -- under a deal emerging on a major transportation spending bill.

One of the spans is the infamous $223-million “Bridge to Nowhere,” proposed to link Ketchikan to an island where there is an airport and about 50 people. The other is a $229-million span near Alaska that was to be dubbed Don Young Way after the powerful Alaska Republican who chairs the House Transportation Committee.

Alaska would get to keep the money, but the mandate to build the bridges would be eliminated under a tentative agreement on the annual transportation appropriations bill. The state could still spend the money on the spans, but they would have to compete with other projects for funding.

“They get rid of the symbol but still keep the pork,” said Rep. David R. Obey of Wisconsin, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.

The original funds earmarked for Alaska were included in a six-year, $286.4-billion highway spending bill that passed in August. Although that bill provided far less than many members of Congress would have liked, it set a record for lawmakers’ pet projects -- about $24 billion.

The bridge from Ketchikan to Gravina Island quickly drew ridicule from anti-pork activists, and many lawmakers heard complaints from constituents.

Pressure to quash the earmarks has grown along with national condemnation of the bridges as examples of congressional pork, particularly as newspaper editorials juxtaposed the projects with the money needed for hurricane relief in the South.

If the earmarks go, the bridges could compete with other projects on the Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan.