Bridge builders: connecting Alaska with massive projects, regular maintenance.

• Author: West, Gail
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Building Alaska

Bridges, both large and small, are an essential part of our transportation system across the nation. They're particularly critical in a state such as Alaska where we have mind-boggling rivers, both in size and will, and even greater bodies of water that separate our "here" from our "there." Explorers and pioneers that we are, we always want to get "there" from "here."

Case in point: the Knik Arm bridge expected to transport vehicles and people from Anchorage to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and points north. Conceived more than 50 years ago when Alaska Railroad engineers began looking for a shortened rail line between Anchorage and Fairbanks, the bridge idea has now morphed to include the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority (KABATA) and an approximate $1 billion design and construction cost.

"Costs have remained fairly stable at $715 to $730 million for a bridge plus 18 miles of roadway that would cost about $300 million," says Shannon McCarthy, government and public affairs manager for KABATA.

Knik Arm Bridge

Funding for this massive project will come from private-sector investment, McCarthy adds.

"KABATA is a public-private partnership," McCarthy says. "The private sector will put together their funding from equity investors to private activity bonds. The private-sector partner will be repaid for building, operating and maintaining the bridge through user fees in the form of tolls once the bridge is built."

Once finished, the Knik Arm bridge would link the Port of Anchorage area with Mat-Su's Port MacKenzie area over a 1.74-mile bridge which, with approaches, makes the total crossing 2.71 miles long. The two ports are now separated by 90 miles of road. Also included in construction plans are 18 miles of road. According to KABATA, the new bridge would support the port's freight-handling capacity and improve regional operations serving the airport and military. Although the Alaska Railroad isn't a part of KABATA's current project plans, the authority says "the project would be complementary to future rail crossing and would not preclude rail approach and crossing options."

"We're actually on the cusp of going into construction now," McCarthy says. "This idea has been discussed for decades and at this point we have applied for all the key permits and we're nearly complete on right-of-way acquisition. We've already started the request-for-proposal process--we did that in 2011.

We asked for a statement of qualifications and selected three...