DOT seeks rural input on statewide transportation planning process

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities is asking rural Alaskans to weigh in on how their communities shape statewide transportation planning — and so far, very few have.

A DOT&PF user-story survey has drawn 307 responses, but only eight have come from rural Alaska or people who travel into rural areas. That's the constituency the agency is trying to reach as it updates its Non-Metropolitan Local Official Cooperation Process, the framework for how communities outside the Anchorage, Fairbanks, and urbanized Mat-Su metropolitan planning areas get a voice at the planning table.

Seema Garrett, a DOT&PF planner, said the agency wants to make sure it is not someone in Anchorage or Fairbanks making a plan for rural communities. She asked local officials to help spread word of the survey.

In roughly 56 percent of Alaska's geography, no local elected officials exist. Regional Planning Organizations, Alaska Native Corporations, and community associations stand in as the voices the state turns to. The Cooperation Process defines how those conversations happen and what they feed into — the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program and the Statewide Long-Range Transportation Plan, the documents that decide which projects get funded and which don't.

The current update is the agency's required five-year review of the process, last adopted in February 2021. It reflects process improvements and coordination changes made since then. Federal rules require the state to take comments for at least 60 days every five years.

DOT&PF is accepting comments through June 7, 2026. A summary of comments and responses will be posted to the agency's Public Involvement in Transportation Planning website.

Comments may be sent to Jennifer Bowman at DOT and PF Statewide Planning by mail at 2301 Peger Road, Fairbanks, AK 99709, by email to [email protected] with the subject line NMLOCP Comment, or by phone at 907-451-2315. The draft NMLOCP update and current approved version are available at https://dot.alaska.gov/stwdplng/areaplans/related/pubinfo.shtml.