Fringe benefits, health and welfare, and earned vacation time, Total FUEL CONSUMPTION-FUEL OIL $17,968. 50 41, 652, 00 1,078. 11 2,499. 12 16, 560. 00 226, 026. 69 38, 424. 53 264, 451. 22 184 days-12 hour day times 54 gallons per day-119,232 times .1256 per gallon=$14,975.54. 184 days-16 hour day times 54 gallons per day-158,976 times .1256 per gallon $19,967.39. FUEL CONSUMPTION-LUBE OIL 3 gallons per day times 184 days times .9725=$178.94. TOTAL FUEL AND LUBE OIL COSTS Fuel and Lube Oil running 12-hour days=$15,154.48 plus 10 percent=1515.45, total, $16,669.93. Fuel and Lube Oil running 15-hour days $20,145.39 plus 10 percent-2014.54, total, $22,159.93. Estimated Cost, $1,200,000.00. COST OF VESSEL Estimated Time to Build, Eight to Nine Monthis. SPECIFICATIONS OF VESSEL Yukon River Ferry-Proposal for State of Alaska Reference: (a) General arrangement and midship and TYP section. PFS & A DWG 307/715–2; (b) The River Road, a report by Captain H. L. Adams. General: We are developing a proposed design of a shoal draft ferry suitable for service on the Yukon River and/or certain of its tributaries in Alaska. The accompanying drawing (reference a) will form a part of the completed report and presentation. It is shown at this time to allow for comment. It is noted that this configuration is beamier than that suggested in the report (reference b). Design work was well advanced at the time the report was received. The design is based on five lanes wide by seven cars long to strike for lower weight and cost with less length and lighter scantlings. The suggested beam is possible with a configuration based on four lanes wide by eight cars long. Cost would be slightly higher. A triple screw propulsion system is proposed. Draft restrictions require tunnels. Assuming that the vessel will not tow (push) scows, 12 knots might be gained by 900 horsepower; however, should towing be a major aspect, 1500 to 1800 horsepower (depending on the size of tow) would be needed. 1800 is about all that can be put through three screws in only 3% feet of water. Even the losses in efficiency and other problems such as cavitation may indicate four screws at that power. The vehicle deck can load the following, or certain combinations thereof: Cars only, 32. Campers, 21 plus 9 cars. 35' trailers, 8 plus 9 cars. Cargo deadweight capacity is expected to provide for a full trailer load, although powering requirements yet to be determined might hold the key. Scantlings are generally in keeping with existing vessels on the river except for being somewhat heavier due to length and in the vehicle deck and forward rake. Principal dimensions: Length overall, 162 feet 4 inches. Length design load waterline, 150 feet. Draft, design, 3 feet 6 inches. Displacement, design (L.T.F.W.), 515. Cabin class, 92. Loung, 58. Crew (see note: persons): Officers, 4. Men, 11. Crew note: A much shorter list than that suggested in the report has been assumed for this design. More officers can be accommodated simply by lengthening the texas. There is ample room for more men below. The following list assumes an all daylight operation, wheelhouse control, no watch standing engineer, and minimum steward service, i.e., a minimum crew list: Summary: Comment on the following subjects is requested : 1. Configuration, particularly beam. CONCLUSIONS 1. Based on the summary of costs and the projection of revenue based on a 50 percent useage factor there would be a profit of approximately $15,000.00. This does not include investment, etc. 2. It appears that this could be a profitable addition to the marine highway system when you consider 100 percent useage which more than likely would be generated by the tourist trade in this area. 3. Additional revenue could be realized if the length of the operating day could be increased, thereby realizing a few more roundtrips per season. 4. The immediate implementation of this service would be very valuable to the whole area when viewed in reference to extending the railroad as this would allow a complete system of highway, rail and marine transportation that would create a better economic basis for all of Western Alaska. Senator GRAVEL. The next gentleman we will hear from will be Mr. Robert L. Beardsley, Commissioner of Highways. STATEMENT OF ROBERT L. BEARDSLEY, COMMISSIONER, ALASKA DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS; ACCOMPANIED BY HESDEN D. SCOUGAL, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER; AND NIEL PHELPS-MEEMSER, SPECIAL ASSISTANT Mr. BEARDSLEY. I would like to introduce two members of my staff at this time, my very able deputy, H. D. Scougal; and special assistant, Niel Phelps-Meemser. Mr. Chairman, distinguished Senators, my fellow Alaskans, ladies and gentlemen, I count it both a privilege and a pleasure to appear here today and I am very grateful that the members of the Joint Senate Public Works and Commerce Committees have taken time to review Alaska's transportation situation. I am fully appreciative of the demands on your time in Washington while Congress is in session, and that gives very special significance to this visit. Though only a 1-year Alaskan myself this month, I learned very quickly the problems Alaska has had in effective communication with this Nation's Capital. We are doubly appreciative because much of the attention we have been getting recently is that from instant Alaskan experts, most of whom have never been to the great land. This is the second occasion for me to testify before a body of the Senate on our highway program, and we are very pleased with this opportunity to again present our requirements for more and better roads in Alaska. In order to avoid repetition of what most members of Public Works heard or read in my previous remarks in May, we would like to employ a slightly different approach to illustrating those requirements. A few basic facts, first, for the record. Alaska, more than 586,000 square miles in size, has less highway system mileage than any but the three smallest States, and less than 1 percent of the highway density averaged by the other 49. Alaska, in terms of connecting its statewide system, is about 40 years behind other Western States, and in terms of achieving highway standards taken for granted in other States, at least a quarter century behind. At the same time, the per mile cost of building highways here runs to as much as 50 percent higher than down below. Several regions of Alaska, completely inaccessible by surface transportation, are larger than a number of entire States in the south 48. Dependent upon Federal assistance for its very existence during the entire century since purchase from Imperial Russia, Alaska now appears to have the potential of supporting itself in a fashion equal to that of any other State, but lacks access to its riches. The proposed road from the Yukon River to the Arctic Ocean at Prudhoe Bay is typical of Alaska's road needs and is itself the keystone to construction of that complementary transportation system on which the immediate marketing of the North Slope oil hinges-the trans-Alaska pipeline system-and, of course, the financial potential of Alaska centers immediately about the North Slope oil develop ment. Poverty, as serious as any found in the poorest areas of the south 48, in many respects requires surface transportation to make it accessible to solution, as well as to give Alaska the financial capability of solution. The overwhelming irony of Alaskans barely existing at poverty level amid some of the greatest wealth of America defies the 20th century imagination. Surface transportation, it can fairly be said, is in one way or another the key to everything that Alaska hopes to become. And the urgency of creating that surface transportation system cannot be overemphasized. Now, when Alaska has, for the first time, the financial potential of doing her full share toward building such a system, she also has the greatest need for the system. If we are not able to take advantage of the moment, if we cannot move to bring Alaska's surface transportation system into the 20th century now, we will have missed the opportunity of bringing more of the good life to the Alaskans of today and of making the great contribution to the Nation's strategic and financial posture which is so badly needed at this hour. Alaska is no longer the territorial possession whose needs and necessities can be attended tomorrow. Alaska is, today, the land where firm and decisive steps must be taken now. The State of Alaska, with a land area cqual to one-fifth that of the contiguous United States, has a State highway mileage of about 4,500 miles and a total road mileage of 7,110 miles including local roads and city streets. Of that amount, 3.490 miles comprise the Federal-aid primary and secondary systems. With this great land mass and small amount of highway mileage, it should not be surprising that many of Alaska's communities and recreational areas, and most of her potential natural resource locations, are not connected to each other and consequently to the rest of the Nation by any form of surface transportation. Tentatively, transportation goals have been set by the Governor's transportation task force, headed by the secretary of state and including four other members of the Governor's cabinet most concerned with transportation. This task force serves effectively as the State's transportation system coordinator and has called for every community of 2,500 or more in population to be connected to the highway network by surface transportation routes, wherever technically feasible, by the year 1990. At present, less than a dozen of our major population centers are interconnected and accessible by surface transportation from the lower 48. Can any of you imagine a community of 2,500 people down South to which you could not drive your car? Do you know of another State outside Hawaii whose capital can be reached only by sea or air? Highway routes, provided to accomplish this goal, are being planned for location in such a manner as to provide maximum enhancement of economic and recreational potential and will be augmented as necessary by ferry or marine highway routes as well as by air transportation, which is also an important factor in our highway planning. In order to meet the objectives set forth by the Governor's transportation task force, it is estimated that a minimum of 14,150 miles of highway will be required by 1990 of which 4,000 miles will be arterials, 4,650 miles collectors, and 6,500 miles local service roads. The 8,650 miles of arterials and collectors are to be functionally equivalent to our present Federal-aid primary and secondary systems and according to nationwide present practice would be expected to remain part of the Federal-aid system. Estimated cost for this expansion of surface transportation, in current dollars, is estimated to be $2,642,000 with $1,242,000 required to construct the arterial routes alone. It will require an additional $62 million per year over 20 years to build the arterials alone. We would like to show a few slides. This sort of puts in prospectus the $9 million oil situation. (Slides shown at this point.) This map of Alaska shows the land in the State which has been selected by the State government or is locally owned. Most of these areas are not yet patented to the State, and in fact the Federal Government still controls some 97 percent of the land mass of Alaska. These in red are lands which have been selected by the State for reasons of known mineralization, population, and other State-oriented interests, and to a fair extent these lands logically encompass our existing highway corridors. The problem of landownership, it becomes obvious, is one of the most critical problems in Alaska, as it affects our capability for self-government and development of our tax base. Historically, and still today, our most important single resource in terms of employment, personal income, and public revenues, is our fisheries. This particular slide was taken 2 weeks ago at Matanek. Senator JORDAN. What kind of fish are those? Mr. BEARDSLEY. Those are red sockeye. By far the greatest fishery in the Nation, the first market value of this resource in the latest year of record was some 50 percent larger than the entire State budget for last year. And yet people, products, and equipment traveling to and from those areas all along the southern and western coasts of the State where the fisheries are concentrated must do so for the most part by air or sea. Highways do not reach into the areas which, in 3 good years, will produce more market value than all the gold ever taken from the ground in Alaska's mining heyday. Our population centers, clustered largely around the warm coastal areas of the State except for the great heartland at Fairbanks, are isolated, with a few exceptions, from each other and from the lower 48 in terms of surface transportation. The most serious problems in a personal context, however, involve the completely inaccessible smaller areas of population; those scattered along the Yukon River, in the Southwest and on the Seward Peninsula, to say nothing of Barrow, the farthest north comunity in the Nation where gasoline costs over a dollar a gallon. It is also in these areas where the majority of our great native population is concentrated. Perhaps the most dramatic of our maps is this ore showing distribution of known and inferred mineralization. The areas with diagonal are geologic structures which yield or are expected to contain oil and gas. While activity is presently concentrated here in the Cook Inlet area and on the North slope, exploration is widely scattered and there are highly probable reserves on both sides of the present Prudhoe Bay fields, out on the Aleutian Chain, in the Gulf of Alaska, and here in South central. |