Alaska Stimulus Airport: Economically Feasible Enough?

With the advent of government controversies and misguided bills, American citizens are more made aware of the present situation and will stand up to upheld their rights. The US congress has proposed and implemented a lot of projects for the different sectors of the society. But there are often government projects that are badly-influenced and overfunded that have caused the concern of most people. One particular project is the Alaska stimulus airport.

Alaska may have the largest total land area in the US but it certainly doesn’t have a whole lot of inhabitants. The federal government claims that putting up a longer but expensive airport on Spruce Island is one good way of spending stimulus money. Currently, it has a 2000 ft. long airstrip and has been in operation for over 30 years now. The government claims that safety is a primary concern on the airport and thus would need to improve it.

Before we dwell on the conclusion, we shall first examine how appropriate and deserving this place can be in having 2 airport runways. The city of Ouzinkie,Alaska only have approximately 205 residents. They have one general store and a post office which will cater to the whole population. Imagine using up an almost $15 million in federal government money for a 2nd airstrip in a rural city where population is very minimal. A small remote city having only over 200 inhabitants would get to have 2 airport runways? How economically reasonable can that be?

Contractors are claiming that doing construction in a rural place can get very costly or expensive. Labor costs and supplies are deemed expensive and would eat up a huge part of the budget. The government thinks that by implementing this, a whole lot of development will follow and more people will benefit. The Federal Aviation Administration claims that the project is very much feasible and will be part of a long-term project making air travel safer and more convenient on rural areas.

I’d say it’s the other way around. The only entities who will be benefiting are the people of Ouzinkie and the many other companies that are directly connected to this project. This eventually turned out to be another case of misused government funds and wasting of taxpayer’s hard-earned money. It would have been more helpful spending this huge amount on further improving government services or implementing social projects that would help generate more jobs to people.