Spending more than $125 million to build a new state ferry terminal 42 road miles north of downtown Juneau, 39 miles from the hospital and 34 miles from the airport and shopping makes about as much sense as arriving at 8 a.m. to drive aboard a 6 a.m. ferry. You’d be left at the dock, which is exactly what should happen to the proposal for a new terminal.

The Dunleavy administration has been pushing for a terminal at Cascade Point ever since he took office in 2019. That doesn’t mean it’s a good idea that’s been waiting for smooth sailing. It’s a wasteful idea that should be sunk.

The governor and his Department of Transportation argue that by building a terminal 28 miles closer to Haines and Skagway than the existing Juneau terminal at Auke Bay, state ferries would save time and fuel on their shuttle runs in Lynn Canal.

Geographically, that is correct. Shorten the sailing distance and cut costs. But that comes at some very heavy costs to the state and traveling public.

The department last year issued a $28.5 million contract for engineering and environmental permitting, a bridge over Cascade Creek, site preparation, retaining wall construction and a gate at the site. The state would lease the land from Goldbelt Inc., Juneau’s Native corporation.

But it would cost an estimated $90 million more to make it a functioning terminal, with a dock and mooring dolphins, a transfer bridge to shore, vehicle staging area and parking, utilities, and more site work.

Most of the funding would come from the federal government, but that’s no reason to waste money.

In an effort to convince the public, and legislators, that the Cascade Point terminal is a good idea, the state last year commissioned an economic analysis of the plan.

Ignore for a moment that the Dunleavy administration awarded the no-bid, $250-an-hour contract to a former employee of the governor’s office. Rather, pay attention to the math in the report.

The analysis says efficiency gains and fuel savings from the shorter sailing distance from Cascade Point to Haines and Skagway — after deducting for the additional costs of operating a second terminal in Juneau — would net out for a ferry system a savings of about $500,000 a year.

Checking the math again, that is a $500,000 annual budget savings from spending more than $125 million to build the terminal.

Rather than benefiting the traveling public or the state treasury, the terminal would benefit the landowner and a proposed mine in the area that could use Cascade Point for its own transportation needs.

The consultant’s proposal to the Department of Transportation said the goal of his analysis was to “ensure that public dollars are efficiently spent.”

If that’s true, shut down the project.