Everybody's heard of Alaska's infamous "Bridge to Nowhere." Actually, Alaska already had one, even though that's not it appellation. Of course, it used to go somewhere, back a hundred years ago. Where is it, and what is it called? And why did Alaska spend millions of dollars to fix it?

gonnzo

The Miles Glacier Bridge, or the Million Dollar Bridge. "The Copper River and Northwestern Railway and associated bridges were built between 1909 and 1911....It earned its nickname because of its $1.4 million cost, well recouped by the about $200 million worth of copper ore which was shipped as a result of its construction....Work began in the 1950s to convert the old railbed to a road. The bridge was converted in 1958. The over-all work was halted when the bridge, and much of the highway under construction, was damaged by the Good Friday Earthquake in 1964. One of the bridge spans slipped off its foundation after the earthquake....The controversial decision was made to repair it after a flood in September 1995 made an eventual washout inevitable. State engineers determined that it was less expensive to repair the bridge than it would be to remove it, or (in a worst-case scenario) clean up if the bridge completely collapsed into the river. Such a cleanup would have been required due to the Copper River salmon runs. The repairs cost $16 million in federal and $3 million in state tax dollars." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Glacier_Bridge Oct 10 09, 11:52 PM

queproblema

Correct! Good job! Sounds stupid, doesn't it? But it isn't: in one year fishermen harvest salmon that bring in that much in direct revenue and that much again in secondary profits. http://www.ecotrust.org/copperriver/ Oct 13 09, 7:33 PM