410 million for the ferries

and the biggest single piece of it replaces a boat that has been running the same route since 1974.

Four hundred ten million dollars just landed for the Alaska Marine Highway. This is money that was approved years ago and then sat, delayed, all through last year.

The largest chunk, about a hundred fifty three million, designs and builds a replacement for the ferry that has run Juneau to Sitka since 1974. If you have ridden it lately, you know it has earned the retirement.

Another hundred sixty one million goes to simply running the system. Not new boats, not new buildings, just operations and maintenance.

The rest goes into terminals. One village terminal gets modernized so it can handle the bigger boats in the fleet. A seaport near Ketchikan gets expanded to move freight better.

And the terminal being built north of Juneau is supposed to cut about a third off the run up to Haines and Skagway.

None of this is glamorous. It is the kind of spending you only ever notice when it stops.

There is also four million for the reservation system, which anyone who has tried to book a summer sailing already has opinions about.

Our senior senator announced it, and summed up the last year in six words. Until you have it, you don't have it.