The Bridge To Nowhere (2005)

This Day in Esoteric Political History

Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia

History

4.6 • 982 Ratings

🗓️ 22 August 2023

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s August 22nd. In the summer of 2005, a proposed bridge in rural Alaska was becoming a hot-button controversy, as conservatives assailed its half-billion dollar price tag as emblematic of government overspending and pork-barrel politics.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie look back at the “Bridget to Nowhere” controversy, what it says about how local and national politics intersect — and whether the bridge really was way too expensive after all.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to this day in esoteric political history from Radiotopia.
0:07.0	My name is Jody Avergan.
0:11.0	This day, summer of 2005, a debate is raging about a bridge in Alaska.
0:16.3	And let me paint you the picture of this bridge.
0:18.4	It's in southern Alaska, that little sort of skinny part that shuts down.
0:22.1	It's connecting Gravina Island with the city of
0:24.5	Ketchakan. The bridge is nearly as long as the Golden Gate and because ships have to
0:29.2	go under it it is higher than the Brooklyn Bridge. Here are a couple other facts about this bridge.
0:33.6	Gravina Island has a population of 50 people. Ketchikan, the metropolis that it connects
0:39.0	to, 8,000 people. And the bridge, the bridge project costs about half a billion dollars
0:45.0	depending on how you are counting and the other thing about this bridge is that
0:49.6	it doesn't actually exist that never got built because this is the infamous bridge to
0:54.4	nowhere that became a years-long political hot potato and talking point a
0:59.3	funding proposal that came to symbolize what many saw as government overspending and the power of
1:04.6	pork barrel politics with local politicians securing huge contracts for pet projects that no one else seems
1:10.6	to think matter.
1:12.0	So let's talk about the bridge to nowhere,
1:13.8	the various squabbles that arose around it.
1:16.3	The hypocrisy, yes, Sarah Palin was very involved in that.
1:19.8	And why eventually it didn't get built,
1:21.7	but also really kind of what it teaches us good and bad about the power of pork barrel politics and earmarks and local spending.
1:29.0	So here as always are Nicole Hammer of Vanderbilt and Kelly Carter Jackson of Wellesley. Hello there.
	...

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