AMATS Rescinds June Vote on Knik Arm Bridge and Begins Process to Re-Vote

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Lois Epstein, 907.929.9372

Anchorage, AK – As a result of a settlement of a lawsuit brought by the cities of Houston and Wasilla and the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority, the Anchorage Metropolitan Area Transportation Solutions (AMATS) Policy Committee today rescinded its June 25 unanimous vote to move the Knik Arm Bridge from a short-term to a long-term project in Anchorage's Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). Immediately after, the Policy Committee unanimously voted to ask the AMATS Technical Advisory Committee to make a recommendation to the Policy Committee on a new amendment to the LRTP that would again make the bridge a long-term project. The settlement included no admission of fault by AMATS.

The AMATS Policy Committee, which has the final say on Anchorage's LRTP, is composed of the Anchorage mayor, state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities and state Department of Environmental Conservation representatives, and two Anchorage Assembly members. In addition to the June 25 unanimous vote by the Policy Committee, the AMATS Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on June 18 and the Anchorage Assembly on June 24 voted unanimously to recommend that the proposed bridge be made a long-term project. In another advisory vote, the Anchorage Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously on June 15 to remove the bridge from the Anchorage LRTP.

The new amendment that the Policy Committee will vote on this fall following a 30 day public comment period may or may not include rail and pedestrian/bicycling infrastructure on the bridge. The Chair of the Toll Authority’s Board, Mike Foster, has been a strong proponent of including rail on the proposed bridge and urged AMATS' committees to do likewise in recent months.

Making the bridge a long-term project in Anchorage's LRTP would prevent bridge construction before 2018.

"City and state transportation professionals asked the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority hard questions and the Authority had inadequate answers. That's the reason why the bridge was moved to a long-term project in Anchorage's Long Range Transportation Plan," stated Lois Epstein, an engineer and director of Alaska Transportation Priorities Project and a member of the AMATS TAC. "The Toll Authority currently is spending over $16,000 each day, including spending on lawyers fighting for the project, which is far too high a level for a project that does not have a credible financing plan or a design able to get federal agency approvals."

The Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority currently is holding over $60 million in funds that cannot be used for other transportation projects in Anchorage or statewide. In its 2011 and 2015 updates of the LRTP, AMATS can decide whether to remove the bridge from the LRTP, change it back to a short-term project, or stick with 2018 or later for construction.

See www.knikbridgefacts.org for more information on the project.