Cordova's winter ferry hope hinges on a Whittier dock question

The extra winter ferry sailing Cordova wants would tie up at a Whittier cruise dock that may not be able to unload vehicles, which Mayor Kristin Smith says would do the community little good.

Smith told the Cordova City Council on Wednesday that the state transportation commissioner, Ryan Anderson, will be in town Tuesday, and she plans to raise ferry service when they meet. She has heard nothing back from the Alaska Marine Highway System about adding a sailing to Cordova's winter schedule.

The complication is the dock. Smith said she was told the Tustumena can't use Cordova's regular ferry dock for the extra run and would have to tie up at a cruise dock in Whittier instead. Whittier has two, the Princess dock at Cliffside Marina and a newer one at the head of the bay that was the site of a recent fire. Neither, Smith said, appears set up to unload vehicles, which would blunt the point of the sailing.

The winter squeeze comes from the state's proposed schedule, which puts the Aurora, Prince William Sound's vessel, in overhaul from October through early March and ends the Tustumena's Southwest run in January. The state released the plan for public review in July, framing the reduced service against statewide constraints.

Smith asked the council for other transportation issues to bring to the commissioner. Council member Debra Adams named Whitshed Road past Three Mile, where she said conditions are "pretty scary, and they're going to get scarier with snow and ice."