NO [A No vote indicates the Kenai Peninsula Borough should not contribute funds or services to the Funny River Bridge Project.]

PROPOSITION SUMMARY:

The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly adopted Resolution 2005-070, placing this question on the ballot for all borough voters. The Funny River Bridge project has been discussed and identified as a transportation project for many years.

In 1992, a Draft Environment Impact Statement (DEIS) was prepared for the Kenai River Bridge Crossing (Sterling Highway to Funny River Road). The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (ADOT&PF), in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), proposed the construction of a bridge across the Kenai River in the vicinity of River Mile (RM) 30 and RM40. Scout Lake Loop Road East was the Department's preferred site. The endorsed bridge design is a bulb-tee structure approximately 550 feet long, having three sets of instream piers.

In 1997, a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) further evaluated the project's secondary impacts and contained additional mitigation for direct impacts to the fishery resources on the Kenai River.

The 1997 FEIS estimated the project cost, assuming a 4-span, 3-pier bridge; 1.7 miles of new road; 0.7 mile of road upgrade; right-of-way acquisitions, utilities and construction; and mitigation in 1992 dollars to be approximately $9.3 million.

All historical information is from "Final Environmental Impact Statement and Final Section 4(f) Evaluation, Kenai River Crossing, Project No. RS-0485(1)/57239, December 1997," State of Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities and Federal Highway Administration.

No EIS has been conducted since the 1997 FEIS. No current estimate of costs exists.