The other underwater bridge to nowhere - $125,000 per household

Moe's update of his insightful analysis of the applications for broadband stimulus funding motivated me to take a look at the numbers for the other underwater bridge to nowhere, the ADAK Eagle project, serving the Aleutian Islands. This seeks ~98% grant-funding of $242m, rather than the 50% of the Kodiak-Kenai project

While we recognize the value of bringing broadband to rural communities, those areas of the United States that are unserved and underserved, we have to ask what is the right technology? How do we balance the costs and benefits?

The Aleutian Islands illustrate this dilemma perfectly. Confronted with the challenge of providing physical connections amongst these far-flung communities, the answer was not to build an interstate highway, it was the Alaska Marine Highway System, choosing an appropriate technology:

The mission of the Alaska Marine Highway System is to provide safe, reliable, and efficient transportation of people, goods, and vehicles among Alaska communities, Canada, and the "Lower 48," while providing opportunities to develop and maintain a reasonable standard of living and high quality of life, including social, education, and health needs.

The Alaska Marine Highway System has been operating year-round since 1963, with regularly scheduled passenger and vehicle service to 30 communities in Alaska, plus Bellingham, Washington, and Prince Rupert, British Columbia. There are currently eleven vessels in the AMHS fleet, additional ferries have been planned.

During the past ten years the Alaska Marine Highway System has carried an average of 400,000 passengers and 100,000 vehicles per year.

Alaska Marine Highway

It is part of the National Highway System and receives federal highway funding; it has been named as an 'All American Road' by the Federal Highway Administration:

The Alaska Marine Highway makes up a large part of our 'highway system' and is a route so special it has earned the title of All American Road, the only Byway of its kind

The fiber-based bridge to nowhere seeks $242m in funding to serve <9,000 people, of who about half live in Unalaska. Using the same calculation basis as before:

• a population of ~8,200 people


• an average household size of 2.59


• = about 3,200 households


• assume that about the same proportion of these households will subscribe to broadband as the US average, that is 60%


• = about 1,920 households subscribing to broadband service


• @ $242 million, that's about $125,000 per household


• even if we take people, it's still ~$30,000 per person

The state of the art in broadband satellite terminals is the Thrane and Thrane EXPLORER® 700, which retails for ~$6,500. At these prices, we could give every household in Alaska one of these and a voucher for $50,000 in services, and we'd still be way ahead; this would cost about half as much.

Thrane and Thrane EXPLORER® 700