Since at least the 1980s, people have been talking about building a new bridge between Juneau and Douglas Island to supplement the existing downtown bridge. On Thursday night, about 150 people gathered at an open house downtown to talk about it some more.
Proponents for the so-called “second crossing” say it would ease the commute for Douglas residents, increase the island’s access to emergency services and open access to undeveloped city and tribal lands.
North Douglas resident Barbara Berg said she would directly benefit from a second bridge.
“We do live far enough out that it’s – we have to factor that in when we go into shop and when we go to the doctor and all that kind of stuff. And if it were a quicker trip, yes, that would probably be a help,” she said.
For the past few years, the city and the Alaska Department of Transportation have been studying possible locations for the crossing. The study is almost complete and they’ve whittled the project location down to five options: Salmon Creek, Twin Lakes, Vanderbilt, Sunny Point East and Sunny Point West. There is also a no-build option.
The need for a second crossing has been a common talking point brought up by residents after a cruise line and Goldbelt Inc. announced plans to develop a new cruise ship port on West Douglas last fall. The city recently rezoned more than 200 acres of city-owned property on North Douglas to increase the housing density in those areas.
Greg Lockwood, the project’s manager with the state’s Department of Transportation, said getting input from residents is crucial for figuring out which option they ultimately choose. The open house was an effort to gather final public comments for the study.
“Especially with a project like this, it’s controversial,” he said. “It’s so beneficial to get everybody together early on, see how everybody’s feeling, see what everybody’s freaked out about, and just get it all on the table early.”
The next step is an environmental review, which is required by the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, which will take a deeper look at the options to assess any environmental consequences. Four of the five proposed routes would cut through the Mendenhall State Game Refuge.
Lockwood said it will likely take two years to complete the review.
“In a best-case scenario, we could be doing the final design here in like three years and then you construction in like four or five years starting,” he said.
Denise Koch with the city’s Engineering and Public Works department said that they are already gathering funding for the project, but it’s going to be a big lift. Two years ago, the city received $16.5 million in federal funding to complete final designs.
“We’re talking about projects that are in the hundreds of millions of dollars, $340 million to $500 million, so what we would do is we would aggressively pursue federal funding,” she said.
She said it will likely also require some local buy-in – likely in the form of a local match to any federal contributions. That could be in the tens of millions of dollars.
In 2010, Juneau voters shot down a 10-year temporary 1% sales tax that would have provided funding for a new bridge. Some attendees at the open house, like downtown resident Stuart Cohen, argued that another bridge isn’t needed.
“Overall, this project is a luxury. It’s not a necessity,” he said. “As far as the safety stuff, yeah, we could get hit by a meteorite, but we don’t spend half a million dollars on a special meteorite shield, and I view the safety arguments in this about the same way.”
His comments and others shared at the meeting will help inform the process as it moves along. Officials say there will be more chances to comment in the future before there’s a final selection.
