I can’t get from here

I can’t get from here

Juneau is the capital of Alaska, but did you know that you can’t drive there from anywhere?

You can fly to Juneau, or you can take a ferry to Juneau, but you can’t actually drive there. There are no roads to Juneau. Can you imagine not being able to drive to the State Capital in the state where you live?

Normally, a lot of business and a lot of government take place in the capital of a state. Not having easy access to it would create a lot of problems, wouldn’t it? Well, not in Alaska.

In fact, until a few years ago, Juneau was two or more time zones away from the rest of the state. A few years ago, Alaska had five time zones. Now we only have two time zones and our capital is now in the same time zone as most of the state.

Gov. Frank Murkowski has a transportation plan that would include building a 65-mile highway from Juneau to Skagway by 2010. That would connect Juneau by road to Anchorage, Fairbanks and much of Alaska.

Of course, you would have to drive through part of Canada to get to Skagway. Not a big deal, since Canada still wants us.

However, many Alaskans are not very enthusiastic about building an expensive road to Juneau. According to Skagway company owner Jan Wrentmore, “it will be as stupid an idea in 2010 as it is now.”

Part of the problem is that Skagway and Haines rely on the ocean ferry system to do business, as Skagway and Haines is the northernmost terminus for tourists who want to disembark from the ferry and drive. The fear is that Juneau will become the northernmost stopping point for the ferry if a road is built from Juneau to Skagway.

“We lose our status from what we’ve had for 100 years,” Jan Wrentmore said. “Create a competitive port.”

Of course, the rest of Alaska doesn’t really care about the competing port issue. Point is, the rest of Alaska doesn’t really care about the whole thing. Our legislators in the state capital seem to get along just fine as things currently stand.

Change comes slowly in Alaska and I expect this topic will be talked about for many years to come.

If we talk about it long enough, it will eventually become a silent topic. We won’t need a road. We will eventually be able to teleport to the Capital if we wish.

Transmit me Governor.