Constituents question Palin’s Bridge-to-Nowhere account

Crews are working to finish it. But no one knows when anyone will need to drive it.

That's because the $26 million road was designed to connect to the $398-million Gravina Island Bridge, more infamously known as the “bridge to nowhere.” State officials thought federal money would pay for the bridge, but Gov. Sarah Palin killed the project after it was ridiculed and Congress rescinded the money. Plans for the road moved forward anyway.

Some residents of Ketchikan -- a city of 8,000 on a neighboring island where the bridge was to end -- see the road as a symbol of wasteful spending that Palin could have curtailed. Some of them even accuse her of deception.

“Surely we won't have to commute on the highway if there won't be a bridge,” said Jill Jacob, who has been writing and calling the governor's office for the last two years protesting the road. “It's a dead-end highway, a dead-end road.”

But in 2006, Palin stood before residents in this region during her gubernatorial campaign and expressed support for the bridge. It became apparent after she was elected that the state's portion would be too costly, and Palin ordered transportation officials to abandon the project.She held on to the $223 million in federally earmarked funds for other uses, such as the Gravina road, approved by her predecessor.

“Here's my question,” said Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein. “If Sarah Palin is not being truthful on an issue like the Gravina bridge project, what else is she not being truthful about?”

Alaska transportation officials say construction of the road began in June 2007 because the state was still hoping to build a bridge and “you need that highway access,” said Roger Weatherell, a department spokesman.

But Weinstein, who backed the bridge project, said that Palin should have redirected the money. “If the bridge was canceled, give the money back, or get the earmark removed, or redesign the road so it's better for development,” he said. “Especially if you're opposed to earmarks, and now you're telling the world you're opposed to earmarks.”

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