It wasn’t long ago that our communities rallied against the road to Juneau and the end of regular ferry service to our area. Once again, the state is pushing its same agenda down our throat, including the end of mainline ferries coming all the way through. Besides the obvious drawbacks of stranded passengers and cars in Katzehin and anywhere along the avalanche-studded corridor with incredible road maintenance costs, it should be noted that those mainline ferries are the lifeline of visitors to Haines, helping our local businesses in housing, food and retail.
The world-class, mountain landscape that so many visitors to Haines and Skagway crave (including cruise ship passengers) will be forever scarred. What will that do for our visitor industry? Will the Department of Transportation stop the road in Katzehin or push it on through to Skagway? There goes our spectacular view. If all travelers go to Skagway, will the Haines road stay open all winter? Life as we know it here will forever change no matter where it ends, and not for the best.
Is there nothing we can do, or is everyone resigned to that future for us? Why replace an existing system that has been servicing Southeast Alaska so well for decades? Why replace our mainline ferries with smaller ferries with questionable longevity? The Malaspina was too old to serve a few years ago; now it is the mainline ferry in the winter. We have until the end of September to write the DOT.
Tresham Gregg