Budget Bypasses Bridge

The Alaska Senate passed a a $2.6 billion capital budget Wednesday that includes $450 million of bonds.

The Senate accepted the capital projects bill that added more than $700 million to the governor's budget, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

The capital budget now moves to the House for consideration

The new capital spending plan included no money for the Knik Arm Bridge, whose officials had been seeking $150 million, according to the paper.

Members of the Senate Finance Committee have raised concerns about the span's financing and its traffic and population projections.

However, the House has approved a bill that would make the needed funds available if toll revenues fall short in the early years of the bridge.

The Knik Arm Bridge Authority, formed in 2003 by the Legislature to run the project, has asked the state for money to help cover costs if tolls fall short when the project opens.

The bridge and causeway would link central Anchorage with the Port MacKenzie area of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, across a two-mile-wide ocean inlet called the Knik Arm.

The project includes an 8,200-foot bridge and an 800-foot tunnel near the Anchorage end.

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Transportation industry Alaska
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