Alaska’s financial difficulties led Gov. Bill Walker (R) to shut down two slow-moving megaprojects before construction started on either.
As part of more than $1 billion in far-reaching statewide budget cuts, Walker put a hold on several projects, including two grandiose ones: the Knik Arm Crossing project, a planned $1-billion, 1.74-mile bridge, connecting Anchorage to Point MacKenzie over Cook Inlet; and the Susitna-Watana Hydroelectric Project, which featured a 705-ft-tall dam and a 42-mile-long reservoir, estimated at $5.2 billion total.