Palin supports $600 million 'other' bridge project

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Gov. Sarah Palin may eventually have said "no thanks" to a federally funded Bridge to Nowhere. But a bridge to her hometown of Wasilla, that's a different story. A $600 million bridge and highway project to link Alaska's largest city to Palin's town of 7,000 residents is moving full speed ahead, despite concerns the bridge could worsen some commuting and threaten a population of beluga whales. Local officials already have spent $42 million on plans to route traffic across the Knik Arm inlet, a narrow finger of water extending roughly 40 kilometers northeast of Anchorage toward Wasilla. The proposal exists thanks to an special budget request by Republican Rep. Don Young, whose son-in-law has a small stake in property near the bridge's proposed western span. A Democratic council member in Anchorage will try Tuesday to spike the city's sponsorship of the project, which Palin supports with some reservations.