By Peninsula Daily News news sources
OLYMPIA — A state representative wants to study the possibility of building a toll bridge out of retired Navy aircraft carriers.
Rep. Jesse Young, R-Gig Harbor, would like to link Bremerton and Port Orchard using two retired carriers now moored at the naval shipyard in Bremerton, the Northwest News Network reported.
“I know that people from around the world would come to drive across the deck of an aircraft carrier bridge, number one,” Young said.
“Number two, it’s the right thing to do from my standpoint because this is giving a testimony and a legacy memorial to our greatest generation.”
Money for a $90,000 feasibility study for Young’s idea was included in the state highway budget that passed the House last week.
It could be stripped out of the final transportation spending plan ultimately passed by lawmakers.
Young said three carriers laid end-to-end could fully span the inlet, but he prefers a two carrier design with on-ramps and a span across the gap in the middle.
Chris Johnson, Navy spokesman, said neither of the two ships Young would like to use — the USS Independence and USS Kitty Hawk — is currently available.
Johnson said the Independence will be transferred from Bremerton to a ship recycling company in Texas later this year.
And the Navy plans to hold the Kitty Hawk in reserve until the new supercarrier Gerald Ford is fully operational.
Young’s proposal was written up in a Swedish online magazine Ny Teknik (“New Technology”; click on: http://tinyurl.com/pdn-tollbridge).
Northwest News Network noted that Kitsap Sun readers on Facebook posted colorful reactions when the aircraft carrier bridge concept was floated that ranged from wholehearted support to amazed disdain.
“Great idea” wrote several commenters who noted a bridge could eliminate a bottleneck and reduce traffic accidents on a dangerous stretch of current highway through Gorst.
Critics groused that the idea was impractical or “idiotic.”
“Perhaps the most original response came from Steve Longmate who suggested the catapult launching systems on the carrier decks ‘could be used for the Express lanes.’” Northwest News said.
