Gravina Island Bridge - Road To Nowhere

Road To Nowhere

After canceling the bridge, Palin's administration spent more than $25 million to build the Gravina Island Highway, which would have connected with the proposed bridge. According to Alaskan state officials, the road project went ahead because the money came from the federal government, and would otherwise have had to be returned. Because "no one seems to use" this road, it has been called the "road to nowhere" by CNN, many local Alaskans, and hundreds of other media sources.

CNN reporter Abbie Boudreau took a helicopter over the road. "There's no one on this road," she said. "It kind of just curves around then it just stops. That's where the bridge was supposed to pick up." Boudreau spoke to Mike Elerding, Palin's former campaign coordinator. When asked if he felt the road was "a waste of taxpayer money," he responded, "Without the bridge, yeah." Boudreau also spoke to the McCain–Palin campaign spokesperson Meghan Stapleton, who defended the road: "The governor could not change that earmark. … That had to be spent on the Gravina road and nothing else. And so, the governor had no options." In response to an inquiry of whether Palin could have stopped construction, Stapleton told Boudreau that Palin had "no viable alternative" because Congress had already granted the earmark and the contract for the road was signed before Palin took office.

Alaska Department of Transportation spokesman Roger Wetherell disagreed, stating that Palin could have canceled the contract upon taking office and reimbursed contractors for any expenses incurred in association with the project, as happened when Palin cancelled a $18.6 million contract on a Juneau road and reimbursed the contractor for $65,500 in expenses. Federal Highway Administration spokesman Doug Hecox stated that Palin could have opted not to use the federal earmark, which would have allowed Congress the opportunity to send it to other federal needs.