Palin pushes for road to Nome(3 to 4 Million a Mile-500 Miles) [View All]

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Anchorage Daily News

JUNEAU -- Boomers talked for decades about building a road to Nome, an epic 500-mile plus project that would run through some of the most remote wilderness of forest, tundra, rivers and valleys in the world. Now Gov. Sarah Palin, to the dismay of some state legislators, is making a push for what could be a $2 billion project.

Palin highlighted the project in her State of the State speech 10 days ago, declaring that she's pursuing a road to Nome, while in the same speech acknowledging a potential budget shortfall of more than a billion dollars. Some lawmakers are scratching their heads.

"I would say that with the limited amount of funds we have for projects I don't know how high that would rank," said Bethel Democratic Sen. Lyman Hoffman, a budget leader in the state Senate. "And if we did construct the road, what are the benefits Alaska would get for such a large-ticket item?"

Palin's transportation commissioner, Leo Von Scheben, gets a gleam in his eye when that question is posed.

"Look at the map of Alaska, and what do you see in terms of roads? North and south, north and south," he said. "We've got nothing going west. And look at what we've got out there. All kinds of resources."

He said the cost of the road would be about $3 million or $4 million a mile.



Read more: http://www.adn.com/news/government/legislature/story/675137.html