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Monday, 19 September 2005

This is a picture I took last year of downtown Ketchikan, Alaska:

That's really the downtown. You're looking at the throbbing heart of the metropolis.

And here is a map of the $223 million "Bridge To Nowhere" (which will probably cost over $300 million) pet project of Alaska Republican Don Young (R-Pure Evil), overlord of the GOP transportation committee, who insists that no, the money would not be better spent helping Hurricane Katrina victims:

Notice that the bridge is, in fact, larger than the ENTIRE TOWN.

Look at the giant city, above. And imagine that 8000-resident community getting something the size of a Golden Gate bridge. Instead of hundreds of millions of dollars going to help hurricane victims.

The ferry ride the bridge would replace, incidentally, takes exactly seven minutes.

This is the single most wasteful transportation project in American history. No exaggeration.

And the GOP values this over the well-being of American citizens.

No exaggeration.

UPDATE: I've been informed by several emailers that my memory was mistaken; the above photo is not of downtown Ketchikan but of a thriving section sometimes more frequented by passers-by like myself.

My mistake, and I apologize.

Two emails accused me outright of lying, which is kinda funny. Because, um, Ketchikan is so utterly memorable that no one could possibly have made this honest mistake. Well, obviously.

Whatever. My apologies for the confusion. If you'd like to see downtown Ketchikan, there's a lovely view of it here, and another one would be here (scroll down), except in this shot the town seems to be completely obscured by the cruise ships.

Yes, I chose this picture to buttress my point. But if anyone thinks there's any deception, by all means, Google image search "downtown Ketchikan" and let your breath be taken by the throbbing metropolis which surely deserves hundreds of millions of dollars to build a bridge roughly the size of the Golden Gate.

Given that the proposed is explicitly designed to tower high enough that the cruise ships can pass below, I think this also should explain what I meant by the perhaps hyperbolic phrase "bigger than the entire town." If "big" means "up" it pretty much has to be. And if you look at the map, the proposed new roadway sure looks like it's of greater length than the town itself. So that's two dimensions covered. No, it's not wider. In that sense, yes. I am humbled.

If anyone wants to push the discussion into further dimensions of string theory, they're welcome to do so.