By Gina Romero
Turnagain Times Correspondent
Winter is just a few months away. For most that means scraping windows and navigating through the snow and ice. And for Whittier residents, it means a short window of opportunity to get to and from home because the tunnel is only open for eight hours during the winter.
Come October, however, that is about to change. Whittier residents won’t see much of a difference from the prolonged summer schedule because the tunnel opening is being extended to 16 hours for the winter months. Whittier Mayor Lester Lunceford said among many things, the extension will help spur economic development and will give residents an opportunity to find work in Anchorage.
“Our whole intent and our whole purpose was to be able to allow community members to commute back and forth to Anchorage for employment,” Lunceford said. “The obstacles we had was our first tunnel out in the winter months was 9 a.m. and the last tunnel in was 5:30 p.m., so that prohibited anyone from going out and getting an eight to five job.”
Lunceford said Whittier leaders have been working for nearly three years to get the tunnel hours extended. And it finally stuck. A one-time appropriation totaling $589,000 to extend the hours was approved in the 2008 Capital Budget.
In addition to giving Whittier residents more access to Anchorage, Lunceford said the extension is intended to stimulate the economy in the winter because the extended hours will hopefully attract business owners to operate year-round instead of just during summer months. City Council member and Charter Boat Operator Dave Goldstein said there is no doubt the extension will allow opportunities for increased business.
“Longer hours will allow charter operators to begin their seasons earlier and extend them later,” he said.
Goldstein said the increased hours will benefit several businesses ranging from hotels to cabins to local restaurants, and will provide a better fit to ferry traffic that off-loads in Whittier.
“The tunnel hours will be beneficial not only to Whittier residents, but to residents of Southcentral Alaska and ultimately, to the State of Alaska,” he said.
In addition to business benefits, Goldstein said Whittier residents can lead a more normal life because the longer tunnel hours allow access to doctors, other medical needs, shopping, entertainment and recreation.
“Attendance at meetings held in Anchorage that impact Whittier, will no longer require overnighting away from home,” he said. “It will now be possible to avoid the rush hour traffic problems that now add significant stress to those trying to make it back for the last tunnel.”
Mayor Lunceford said the extension is a major victory but there is still work to do. The next step is to get the funding approved in the State Operating Budget, which will ensure the tunnel will remain open for extended winter hours.
“Even though we are lucky to get the 16 hours this year, there is no guarantee that it will happen again next year,” Lunceford said, “but I’m optimistic about it and I think that if the city does the right thing and goes through the right procedures, I think that maybe we could see this as a year-round endeavor.”
The 16 hour schedule begins Oct. 1 and the tunnel hours will operate from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.