For most people, in most situations, talking about the state’s economic downturn and the subsequent ferry service cuts are not ideal talking points if you’re looking to liven the mood at a party. But for Denny DeWitt, executive director of First Things First Alaska Foundation, they are great for breathing life into the controversial Juneau Access Project.
Speaking to the Juneau Chamber of Commerce at its weekly luncheon Thursday, DeWitt used both points and a new study conducted by McDowell Group to once again bolster support for the Lynn Canal Highway, which would extend the road north of Juneau, likely to a ferry terminal at the Katzehin River Delta.
According to DeWitt and the report, which was commissioned by First Things First and published last month, declining Lynn Canal ferry service will mean a 44 percent reduction in vehicle capacity between this summer and last. DeWitt said that ferry cuts will make travel more difficult, and it will impact commerce by forcing more businesses to use airfreight, and “that’s going to hit us all right in the pocket book.”
The hypothetical Lynn Canal Highway, however, would offer 14 times the vehicle capacity of the ferries, “and that’s before the ferry system began reducing its capacity,” DeWitt told chamber members. In 2016, Alaska will have the fewest number of ferries in operation in about 20 years.
“The ferry system has been great, but it’s like having dial up,” chamber President Dan Fabrello added after DeWitt’s presentation. “I want it to be there to serve the lower portion of Southeast Alaska, but there’s no reason why we shouldn’t have fiber-optic on the other end, and that’s a road out of Juneau.”
DeWitt’s presentation wasn’t all about the ferry service, however, and neither was the report it was based on; it was also about how the Lynn Canal Highway will spur economic development in the region.
The highway has the potential to bring an additional 165,000 visitors to Juneau annually, according to DeWitt. He went on to say that these visitors could be a boon to the city’s economy, generating up to $1.24 million per year in tax revenue for the city.
It would also allow for the fishing industry to thrive, according to DeWitt. Right now, Homer is shipping halibut to the Midwest in 48 hours, he told the chamber. This could be a reality for the fishing industry in Southeast, too, if only it had better access to a highway and didn’t have to move all of its fish through Seattle first, DeWitt said.
In addition to increasing tax revenue for the city and furthering commerce, the highway — “one of the largest, if not the largest, projects our region has seen” — could be a great source of construction-related jobs, DeWitt said.
“We’re talking about our friends and neighbors, whether or not they’re going to be employed, whether or not they’re going to have to leave here,” he said.
Construction crews wouldn’t likely be able to break ground on the proposed highway before the 2017 construction season, DeWitt said, answering a question from the crowd regarding the project’s time line.
