Lisa Murkowski: “Ferries are a small but extremely important part of our transportation system. This amendment reauthorizes the ferry…”

“Ferries are a small but extremely important part of our transportation system. This amendment reauthorizes the ferry discretionary program at $30 million per year, with an authorization to appropriate $20 million more annually, and it calls on the Secretary of Transportation to conduct a thorough review of existing ferry services and potential new routes, and to both report back to Congress and to discuss his findings with interested local and state governments. It is our hope this will both maintain this important link in our transportation chain, and stimulate thought and action toward both standard and high-speed ferries as cost effective and environmentally sensitive alternatives for traditional solutions such as bridges and causeways. Included is a provision setting aside $12 million for ferry systems that are in the national highway system. In my state of Alaska, where roads are few and far between our ferry system--the Alaska Marine Highway System--is the only scheduled transportation link between many island communities which are not connected by roads. Many of these villages are too small even to have the smallest of landing strips, and expensive float planes are the only other option for travel. It is absolutely irreplaceable. It carries senior citizens from their small communities to doctors' offices and hospitals in larger communities.”