Statewide Transportation Policy Plan Needs to Reevaluate Mega-Projects; Costs of Juneau Road and Knik Arm and Gravina Bridges Will Starve Projects Statewide

Anchorage, AK – The Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (DOT) is holding the first of only two public meetings in Wasilla today to update its statewide Long-Range Transportation Policy Plan. This plan, which will provide a guide for meeting the state’s transportation needs through 2030, will include a focus on the state’s widespread local maintenance and safety needs.

“DOT must stop pursuing the extraordinarily expensive Juneau Road, Knik Arm and Gravina Bridge mega-projects if it has any hope of maintaining local roads and making them safe in a reasonable timeframe,” said Lois Epstein, engineer and director of the Alaska Transportation Priorities Project (ATPP).

To develop this updated plan, DOT Commissioner Leo von Scheben appointed a narrowly-focused “Transportation Stakeholders Group” to advise DOT. The statewide advisory committee does not include any conservation, non-motorized transportation, tribal, or union representatives. DOT is soliciting public input through two public meetings, in Wasilla and Fairbanks, and in writing.

Federal funding for transportation is in a sharp decline, with Alaska’s Highway Trust Fund revenue – the largest federal source of road money – likely declining by 25% permanently beginning in 2009. Alaska is the state most dependent on federal money for transportation. DOT estimates its repair and new construction needs are approximately $10-12 billion; this year’s capital budget for transportation was only $810 million.

“Former Governor Murkowski’s push for mega-projects like the Juneau Road and the Knik Arm and Gravina bridges, with known costs of approximately $2 billion, was greatly misguided. If DOT continues to pursue these projects of dubious value – and DOT refuses to provide the public with updated and accurate numbers of their high costs – numerous essential transportation projects around the state will be cancelled or delayed as a result. The 2030 plan needs to rethink policies on mega-projects,” stated Epstein.

At the Wasilla public meeting, Epstein urged DOT to create a formal “right-to-know” policy for transportation, which would require DOT to issue complete and accurate project cost and revenue information to the public and decision makers. “As long as DOT staff has a monopoly on accurate cost figures and information on state and federal revenue sources, legislators and Alaskans can’t make informed decisions on where we should spend our limited transportation dollars. This situation needs to change,” said Epstein.

Download: Press release July 18th, 2007. ( MS Word format, 196k)

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