Comments on: Yet another Bridge to Nowhere?

By: NewEarth

NewEarth — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 21:21:30 +0000

I’m from Alaska (state motto: “The Pork State”) and this yet another felonious boondoggle of Stevensesque proportions. This unneeded 6+ billion dollar structure is proposed to be built directly on top of the location of the 2nd largest megathrust earthquake in all of recorded history and in the most seismically active region of the planet. Built on 20 miles of bayfill (see the AlaskaKABATA bridge-booster cartoon) that liquified during that 1964 earthquake. These people need to be taken off welfare so they can leave to find gainful employment elsewhere.

By: Cate_Long

Cate_Long — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 11:14:04 +0000

Thanks for the very helpful comment AKPundit. Please post any new developments that you come across. I think your bridge to nowhere might become the poster child for privatization gone wrong. Thanks.

By: akpundit

akpundit — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 02:29:27 +0000

The cost of the Bridge will be far higher than $1.5 billion cited here because the tolls are so little in the early years that the unpaid interest –example a secondary capital acretion bond provides $40 MM at start but with tolls not allowing interest payments until 2034 that bond requires $238 MM before repaid –jacks up the cost to the state of financing the ballooning availability payments. By KABATA’s pro forma those 36 years of availability payments total $3.2 Billion; an independent analyst, after discounting the impact of the population overestimation and the changed Wilbur Smith revenue model, produces an estimate of $5.75 Billion in cumulative availability payments and the toll shortfall from that number is likely to be far larger than $1.5 billion. See http://www.knikbridgefacts.org for documentation.