The Gravina Island Bridge, commonly referred to as the "Bridge to Nowhere", was a proposed bridge to replace the ferry that currently connects the town of Ketchikan, Alaska, United States with Gravina Island, an island that contains the Ketchikan International Airport as well as 50 residents. The bridge was projected to cost $398 million. Members of the Alaskan congressional delegation, particularly Representative Don Young and Senator Ted Stevens, were the bridge's biggest advocates in Congress, and helped push for federal funding. The project encountered fierce opposition outside of Alaska as a symbol of pork barrel spending and is labeled as one of the more prominent "bridges to nowhere". As a result, the US congress removed the federal earmark for the bridge in 2005. Funding for the "Bridge to Nowhere" has continued as of March 2, 2011, in the passing of H.R. 662: Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2011 by the House of Representatives.
Read more about Gravina Island Bridge: Background, History, 2008 Campaign Issue, Road To Nowhere, 2011 Activity
Famous quotes containing the words island and/or bridge:
“I should like to have seen a gallery of coronation beauties, at Westminster Abbey, confronted for a moment by this band of Island girls; their stiffness, formality, and affectation contrasted with the artless vivacity and unconcealed natural graces of these savage maidens. It would be the Venus de’ Medici placed beside a milliner’s doll.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“London Bridge is broken down,
Dance o’er my lady lee,
London Bridge is broken down,
With a gay lady.
How shall we build it up again?
Dance o’er my lady lee,”
—Unknown. London Bridge (l. 1–6)