'Build it and they will come' works in the movies, not Cook Inlet

In the movie “Field of Dreams,” Kevin Costner’s character hears voices telling him to build a baseball field in a cornfield. “Build it and they will come,” the voices said. He did, and a magical story unfolded.

But in Cook Inlet, “build it and they will come” has become a management philosophy for wild-eyed politicians and their bloated government infrastructure projects that threatens to make our great state just another cable TV laugh line.

Let’s review:

The Port of Anchorage expansion is the granddaddy of all boondoggles. Former Governor and now-Port Director Bill Sheffield rejected plans that would have build a safer, more useful dock for $150 million, and opted instead for an experimental design that will cost more than $1 billion if it ever gets built (and its seismic stability will remain in question until the next “big one”). Annual dredging costs are skyrocketing too, now pegged at more than $12 million a year and rising as warming temperatures push more glacial silt into Knik Arm.

Then-Mayor Mark Begich ignored the fact the Anchorage Municipality had no need for Sheffield’s grandiose expansion, and with federal funds drying up, it now looks like the state and the Muni will be called-in to backstop the cash hemorrhage. But no worries, Mr. Sheffield holds fundraisers for Begich, Parnell and Sullivan, among others, so he’s got the political cover to waste taxpayer money. No one doubts the importance of the Port of Anchorage to Alaskan commerce; we just need some adult supervision at the Port.

The Mat Su Ferry is another good story. Ted Stevens helped Lockheed Martin out when the Navy didn’t use its original ice breaking landing craft design, and got the vessel built as a passenger ferry in Ketchikan (a good thing for local ship building) for the Mat-Su Borough. But the Mat Su Borough has no serious business plan for the ferry, no place to dock the vessel and no projected ridership that could come close to making the vessel break even. To date, this boondoggle has gobbled up $4.5 million for a fancy ferry terminal building at Port MacKenzie, and over $78 million for design and construction of the vessel. It’s an impressive vessel, and hopefully it will find service in Alaska, but if you think this vessel can break through Cook Inlet’s notoriously tricky sea ice in the dark winter months and maintain any semblance of a ferry schedule, I’ve got a bridge across Kink Arm to sell you.

Speaking of "Bridges to Nowhere," the good folks at the Knik Arm Bridge & Toll Authority have paid a fancy transportation consultant to claim a new bridge would see 36,000 trips a day in 25 years. Considering the fact the bridge would not save driving time from the population centers in Wasilla and Palmer, that’s a heck of a lot of drivers. But more importantly, KABATA factors in four lanes of traffic revenue to make the project look feasible, yet it’s only considering two lanes of project costs when determining final numbers. And those final numbers are big: over a $1 billion when all is said and done. To compound the problem, KABATA wants to bring in private investors who are unwilling to take the risk the bridge will eventually pay for itself, so they’re asking the state for an open-ended guarantee. Sounds like a good deal for the investors, not so much for Alaskans.

Another classic Cook Inlet boondoggle lies just west of Anchorage at the Mat-Su Borough’s Port Mackenzie. Despite repeated pronouncements from the “build it and they will come” crowd, Port Mackenzie has seen but a handful of ship visits over the past 6 years. Now, there’s a new savior: a $250 million railroad spur across peat bogs and private farmlands to connect the Port to the existing rail line. Due to the complexity of this project, this price tag will almost certainly double. But with state and federal dollars flowing, money doesn’t seem to be an issue. In fact, according to the Anchorage Daily News, former Anchorage Mayor Rick Mystrom pulled in $85,000 for six months work in 2010 touting the project to politicians. At least somebody’s seeing some benefits.

Next up we have the Goose Creek prison, a $225 million mega-facility also located in the government money magnet called Point Mackenzie. This monster facility got politicians’ attention when they learned it would cost $50 million a year to operate, with another $17.8 million in annual lease payments to the Mat Su Borough. Part of the problem with building a giant facility in the middle of nowhere has been the lack of sewer and water services, so project backers have to build entirely new systems. One commenter has argued the unused jail would be a perfect location for the Alaska Legislature to convene.

Last but certainly not least, we can’t forget the Bill Sheffield Railroad Terminal at the Ted Stevens International Airport. Bill was running the Alaska Railroad when this boondoggle got off the ground (trains kept leaving the tracks and spilling things during Bill’s tenure but that’s another story), and Ted pushed his friend Bill $28 million in federal money to make it happen. A 1999 study paid for by the railroad said the facility would serve as many as 200,000 people annually within a year of opening. In 2009, however, just 20,000 people used it, and today, the facility is in warm shut-down. We can’t even pay a lot of money to have a wedding there anymore.

Some will argue this multi-billion dollar bundle of projects around Cook Inlet reflects vision and courage and can-do attitude. But in these trying economic times, it’s time to push the romantics aside and get some pragmatic leadership that understands that “build it and they will come” might work in the movies, but it rarely results in sound investment decisions. Now is the time to start living within our means, and using our precious public dollars to fix what we already have first. The Anchorage sewage treatment plant -- which receives a special waiver from the feds to dump 30-40 million gallons of partially treated sewage into Cook Inlet every day -- would be a good start.

This commentary first appeared at Alaska Dispatch.