Our next governor should shut the door on Cascade Point
- Rich Moniak
- 12 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Rich Moniak
I welcomed last week’s announcement that the start of construction for the Cascade Point ferry terminal will be delayed until after Gov. Mike Dunleavy leaves office. Residents of Juneau, Haines and Skagway overwhelmingly oppose it. Dunleavy’s successor should promptly terminate all work on the project and immediately fire the political appointees who purposely misled the public they serve.
It one way, it’s surprising Dunleavy ignored the primary users of the Alaska Marine Highway’s sailings in Lynn Canal. “Too often leaders seem to forget a simple truth,” he said during his first State of the State speech seven years ago. “Government gets all of its authority from the people. The governor has no power either — except what you, the people of Alaska, give.”
On the other hand, he promised not to “hack, cut or destroy” the system, but quickly proceeded to slash its budget and sell the two fast ferries.
Building a new terminal at Cascade Point grew out of a study he commissioned that couldn’t justify privatizing some or all of the system. Located 28 miles beyond the Auke Bay Ferry terminal, it would shorten the sailing time between to and from Juneau, thereby reducing “the operating subsidy by $576,000 to $693,000 per year.”
However, that estimated savings didn’t include the construction costs, annual maintenance, highway improvements, or leasing the property from Goldbelt.
In a July 2022 Alaska Marine Highway Operations Board (AMHOB) meeting packet, the Department of Transportation (DOT) estimated construction would cost $36 million. And based on “preliminary modeling,” they claimed the project would have a “a positive economic benefit.”
Without any further economic analysis, DOT aggressively moved forward. In January 2023, they issued a Request for Proposal for the design of the terminal, dock and related uplands infrastructure. The goal was to start construction in March 2025 and complete it by December 2026.
Six weeks later, Dunleavy signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Goldbelt. He said it reflected “a commitment to see this through.”
But DOT was purposely keeping AMHOB in the dark.
During a meeting a few months before the MOU was signed, soon-to-be Deputy Commissioner Katherine Keith told board members DOT was focused on “getting more information” before making any “strong decisions.” In response to questions about the economic viability of the project, she claimed a working group spent a few days in Ketchikan running “numbers and scenarios in all sorts of ways” and concluded the project made “a lot of economic sense.”
A year later, Keith said the estimated construction cost was still around $36 million. However, the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program published earlier showed it had grown to $76.6 million.
She also told the board the project didn’t include any additional road construction because there’s “a road there already.” But eight miles of highway improvements are needed between Adlersheim and Cascade Point.
Finally, in October 2025, DOT Commissioner Mark Anderson released what pretended to be an economic analysis of the project. And he burst the opaque bubble the administration created by announcing construction had begun “on the uplands work required for the terminal facility.
AMHOB members weren’t the only people Dunleavy’s administration was intent on fooling. They weren’t honest with residents and local government officials in Juneau, Haines and Skagway. And he didn’t consult with the legislators we elected to represent us.
They were notably absent from MOU signing ceremony that took place right here in Juneau. Rep. Kevin McCabe (R-Big Lake), whose district is nowhere close to an Alaska Marine Highway port of call, was the only legislator who attended it.
“It’s always going to be about money” McCabe said that day. “How much is it going to cost the state?” Last month, he wrote the project’s fiscal benefits are “obvious.” Of course, he didn’t mention DOT now estimates construction will cost $90 million.
It’ll take more than a century of operational savings for the project to break even.
Last August, Dunleavy signed an Administrative Order aimed at ensuring state funds are directed “to the most critical and urgent needs” while promoting “transparency and public confidence” in state government. On all counts, the proposed Cascade Point Ferry Terminal does the opposite. It needs to be buried deep enough to keep its stench from rising up in the next administration.
• Rich Moniak is a Juneau resident and retired civil engineer with more than 25 years of experience working in the public sector.
