<\/a>The Hubbard ferry docks at the Alaska Marine Highway System terminal in Juneau on Monday for a christening ceremony. The 280-foot-long vessel, with room for 300 passengers and 53 standard-length vehicles, officially was put into service in Southeast Alaska last month. (Mark Sabbatini \/ Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
The state’s ferry system has gone through a series of struggles in recent years due to budget cuts, vessel availability and workforce shortages. Kiehl said the Hubbard, which is providing service between the three northern panhandle communities six times a week, is a key step toward reviving the ferry’s role as “an absolutely essential piece of our infrastructure.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“Today we celebrate another vessel, another piece of that system that is going to bring more frequent, more efficient and more reliable service for all those people,” he said. “This is one of the things government does right and needs to keep doing.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The ceremonial breaking of champagne across the bow of the Hubbard was performed by First Lady Rose Dunleavy, whose husband, Gov. Mike Dunleavy, has been subject to considerable criticism for his cuts to the ferry system after he was first elected in 2018. The ferry system remained among the lowest-scoring functions in the state’s infrastructure report card last year, but Rose Dunleavy said her experience growing up in the remote village Noorvik allows her to understand the need residents in coastal communities have for the ferry system.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“I was raised in a small town that relied heavily on our airport, and our primary connection of goods and services and outside medical care,” she said. “The marine highway serves small rural communities in much the same way. It connects them to the economy, connects Alaskans to their neighbors and allows access to the rest of the state via roads or planes.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t