Alaskans have until Thursday to comment on the state's $7.74 billion transportation plan

Alaskans have until 5 pm Thursday to weigh in on the state's plan for at least $7.74 billion in federally funded transportation projects over the next four years.

The draft 2027-2030 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program decides which highway, bridge, ferry, transit, trail and community projects get federal money through 2030. About $5.63 billion of the total would go to highways, bridges and ferries. The draft itself says the $7.74 billion figure is incomplete.

The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities wants to hear about mistakes in the draft and about community priorities it left out, Judy Chapman, the department's deputy director of planning, said at an Oct. 6 virtual meeting on the plan. "We will read every one," she said of the comments.

Commissioner Ryan Anderson told the meeting that Alaska's needs are bigger than the money in the program. Comments about projects that don't fit now still go on a needs list, he said, which the department uses to look for other ways to pay for them.

Comments can be submitted online or by email, voicemail, text, TTY or mail, and the department says it will post them on its website.

After reviewing the comments, the department sends the final plan to the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Transit Administration, which must approve it together.