Western ferries: politics of design

摘要

Around the islands and fjords of the Pacific Northwest of the USA, few government expenditures elicit more comment and criticism than new ferry construction. Alan Haig-Brown takes a look at some of the interesting newbuilds to come out of this area in the last year.rnBoth Washington State and British Columbia (BC) have taken high-speed ferries off routes in recent years in part due to public complaints about wake damage. Washington, BC and Alaska all share similar island-studded and fjord-broken coastlines creating a demand for both passenger and car ferries. In BC there has recently been a political storm following a US government decision to go offshore for new vessels.