Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson is pushing hard for state capital funds to shore up the aging and fragile Port of Alaska, which is the lifeline for the majority of the state when it comes to goods and commodities. The port has been in decline for years.
Bronson says the port needs $1.1 billion to upgrade it to protect against a catastrophic failure in the event of a major earthquake. He’s asking the state for $600 million for its share, and Anchorage and federal funds would make up the rest to shore up the aging pilings and docks. The last earthquake in November of 2018 emphasized the need to do this immediately: If the 7.1 magnitude quake had lasted seven seconds longer the port would have failed through liquefaction of the clay soil it’s anchored in.
Bronson has produced a video to get his point across to the Legislature, and to emphasize to the rest of Alaska the dire need for the funding from the Legislature. In the video, he makes it clear it’s either a combination of funding to fix the port now, or it will mean significantly increased tariffs through revenue bonds, which would be paid by consumers. Also appearing in the video are mayors from around the state who talk about the risk to their communities if nothing is done.
Can this be done with a larger share of federal money? What about the Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2021? It would help this squeeze if the feds would let us drill…
Good Job … DB! Keep up the good work and keep fighting the battle against the Libs (Assembly).
This seems like a perfect expense for the “infrastructure bill”. What was it 1.5 trillion?
Murkowski get on the stick.
Ha ha.
Liiisa doesn’t care.
I thought conservatives were against federal overreach.
Isn’t there something more deserving of such huge funds …….. say like ….. some more homes for a few activists and instigators. Sarcasm……
Having an adult at the wheel is SO refreshing.
Come on Bragaw extension!!!!
Mayor B, what’ll protect taxpayers from the mismanagement and cost overruns which got the port into this situation?
Naming the state roadkill after Dunleavy is more important to them.
I agree with Mayor Bronson’s push here, but can we all stop with this stupid, stupid “Port of Alaska” nonsense already? It is the PORT OF ANCHORAGE, you ignorant twits! The state of Alaska has FAR more than one single port. To talk about a single one, the Port of Anchorage, as “The Port of Alaska” is not only arrogant, it is also incorrect and ignorant.
80% of all non petroleum ship borne cargo goes into or comes out of the port. Whittier and Seward are a drop in the bucket in comparison. Like it or not, it’s Alaska’s port.
Maybe we should just rename it “Port of North American”, instead.
No, better yet, “Port of the Universe”.
Come on. it is the railbelt’s port and it does little for any other region.
Time to abandon this albatross!
Use the 1.1 billion to improve the traffic and rail corridor between Anchorage, Seward, and Whittier (even annex Whittier!!!) and fund improvements to our two deep water ports that are a day closer to the west coast.
Give the “Port of Alaska” back to the birds!
A good argument could be made there, Bill.
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Most people have no idea just how difficult, and marginal, it is to maintain a port in Anchorage, at the the head of the extremely shallow and tremendously tidal Cook Inlet. Constant dredging is needed to keep the shipping channel open, and the port’s ability to handle incoming and outgoing ships is majorly limited by the extreme tides and tidal range.
Thankfully the federal government has been paying for and doing the dredging. Dunleavy has made a point of telling everyone the state is going to manage our waters. Maybe he wants to take on the dredging.
Finally!!!! This is an important project! Hope it gets done correctly.
Fixing it is a no-brainer, expanding the rail system is also a no-brainer.
We really need to rename this port….It ought to be forever known as ‘Port Sheffield’.
No, “Port(land) of Los Anchorage” sums it up much better.
Alaska can contain twenty six other states in the union one with their infrastructure FHWA eligible participating projects if Alaska can provide evidence they are not currently racists. The departments very much are. Look the other way. The railroad was completed in 1923 in the winter in a hurry to engineering standards of the day within the bottleneck of Anch. No need to tell the truth about, “this” though
It blows my mind. We just passed a bipartisan 1.2 trillion infrastructure bill…why the heck was the Port of Alaska not included?!? Our reps in DC are a joke for letting this slip.
The last thing democrats on the assembly need would be more federal disaster relief money because the port would be sunk. I’d prefer the state, communities, and residents paying tariffsover a sunk port flooding democrats with millions more with federal disaster relief money.0after covid our city dems can’t be trusted with disaster relief money.
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