1994 Alaska capital relocation vote, by districts

[Colin]

Why does it matter so much where the capital is located that they'd try and change it six times?

Isn't Juneau supposed to be a real pain in the ass to get to even for Alaska?

So I've heard, but why does that matter?  The capital is just where the legislative body does stuff.  I don't see why it matters where it is; the only people truly concerned with it are the state politicians.

There are some kinds of business you pretty much have to do by going to the capital - accessing state records, observing/commenting on legislative actions.

Well besides that you have to remember the Alaskan mentality about these things. The state legislature has a much larger role in the governing of Alaska than it is in any other state that I've been too. Because of Alaska's isolation from the rest of the United States it looks on its legislature as the body that actually conducts a vast amount of the business pertaining to Alaska and that the Congress is nothing more than a voice from the Lower 48 which sometimes as something pertaining to Alaska on the menu but usually leaves it alone.

So you conbine this with the general isolation of Juneau, and the rest of the Panhandle area, along with the feeling of many central Alaskans that bringing the legislators closer to the centre of population in Alaska would make them more accesible and more aware of problems of a majority of the citizens.

To Snowguy, the reason why this is different is that you can drive and easily get to places like Reno, Tacoma, Madison, Albany, Springfield or any of the other cities that you stated. To get to Juneau you have to either fly, to an airport with one of the worst records for delays because of the constant fog and rain in the Panhandle, or take a ferry, which could take as long as three days from Anchorage. To drive at least some of the way you'd need to drive across the Canadian border into the Yukon and then south to Skagway. Then you'd have to take an overnight ferry to Juneau, and this is after about a 15 hour drive from Anchorage to Skagway. So they do have a point.

[Colin]

We're just as much the capital of Washington as Reno is of Nevada. 

Ahh sh**t. Olympia and Carson City. See this is why these sh**tty ass capitals should be moved.

God damn it I hate when I act like a stupid idiot and people catch me. I don't care if I just pull stuff out of my ass if they don't catch it.

[Colin]

I mean, should Texas return to Houston.

Yes.

The problem with places like Austin and Juneau is all they have is the capital, so they are big on expanding government programs.  The US capital should be moved as well.

It a really fast growing medium-sized city. In any case would building a road to Juneau that difficult? I know that the geography sucks, but we have roads that go all sorts of crazy places. It seems to me that if they can find $280 million dollars to build a bridge to nowhere, they can find whatever it takes to connect a state capital to the outside world.

One plan for a road said that it would cost around 2 billion dollars, if done on the cheap. If you are actually including the fact that most major projects like that go over budget you could be looking at 3 billion or so dollars. The terrain is some of the most hostile to road construction in the world, outside of places like Greenland and Nunavut. Add that to the fact that the closest road is the Alaska Highway which is nearly 450 miles east of Juneau and you have a major construction project on your hands.

[Colin]

Juneau is a bad place to have a capital. Its like having Eureka as the capital of California or Plattsburgh as the capital of New York, as remote and distant from everyone as possible. Yes Juneau would suffer, but the rest of the state shouldn't be cut off from their own government.

Well it would be like having the capital of New York in Plattsburg, accept all road links are severed with the outside world, and a ring of 15,000 foot high mountains is placed all around the city.