Corrected 6/19/08

ALASKA TRANSPORTATION PRIORITIES PROJECT  *  FRIENDS OF BERNERS BAY  LYNN CANAL CONSERVATION  *  SIERRA CLUB (JUNEAU) *  SKAGWAY MARINE ACCESS COMMISSION * SOUTHEAST ALASKA CONSERVATION COUNCIL

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Lois Epstein, ATPP, 907.929.9372; Russell Heath, SEACC, 907.586.6942;
Jan Wrentmore, SMAC, 907.612.0702; Mark Rorick, Sierra Club, 907.789.5472;
Kevin Hood, FOBB, 907.789.7853

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Issues Flawed Juneau Road Project Permit;
Groups Say Don't Spend More Money Until Accurate Cost Estimate is Developed

Juneau, AK – After two years of study, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) today issued a permit to the Alaska Department of Transportation (DOT) for construction of a 51 mile road and a new ferry terminal that together will cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and which will parallel an existing ferry route. DOT staff testified in February before the Senate Transportation Committee that at the project’s current cost estimate of $374 million they did not expect to have the money to complete the project until 2020.

To date, $24 million has been spent on the project which would require travelers to Haines or Skagway from Juneau to drive 90 miles to reach the ferry terminal, rather than the 13 miles from Juneau they now drive. The most northerly part of the proposed road crosses 112 geotechnical hazards including numerous avalanche, rockfall, and landslide areas, or five hazards per mile on average. The state has not completed all geotechnical work needed to determine the road’s precise route, nor has it determined if extremely expensive safety structures like tunnels and snow sheds would be needed.

The Corps did not verify DOT’s cost estimate, however its permit includes a costly requirement for 445 new culverts, many of which could cost over $1 million each. In May, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wrote a letter to the Corps expressing serious concerns with the Corps’ draft permit.

“The Juneau Road and ferry project, literally a ‘road to nowhere,’ has very expensive, technically-complex construction challenges,” said Lois Epstein, an engineer with the Alaska Transportation Priorities Project in Anchorage. “The state should not begin construction until the Governor and the legislature have a worst-case cost estimate. DOT’s current low-ball estimate is not realistic because staff stopped the geotechnical contractor from completing its work. Governor Palin wisely expressed fiscal concerns with the project in a note to the DOT Commissioner in early May.”

“DOT has money to begin but not to finish the project,” said Russell Heath, Executive Director of Southeast Alaska Conservation Council in Juneau. “DOT wants to spend hundreds of millions of dollars they don’t have on a project many people don’t want at a total cost that it doesn’t yet know because it keeps going up.”

“The Juneau Road and ferry project is a black-hole for state money,” said Jan Wrentmore, Skagway businesswoman and head of the Skagway Marine Access Commission, a local pro-ferry organization.

“State and federal transportation dollars are better spent on maintaining and upgrading existing Alaska transportation infrastructure than on this costly, unnecessary project,” said Mark Rorick, Chair of the Juneau Group of the Sierra Club.

“Berners Bay’s natural environment will be irreparably harmed by the Juneau Road,” said Kevin Hood, head of Friends of Berners Bay, a Juneau-based conservation organization.

According to a November 2007 statewide poll, Alaskans prefer by a 79% to 11% margin that the state spend money on local transportation repairs, maintenance, and upgrades rather than on the Juneau Road and ferry project.