Draft Southeast plan omits Juneau-Skagway road, comment closes Oct. 19

Alaska's new draft transportation plan for Southeast Alaska omits the long-debated Juneau-Skagway road up the east side of Lynn Canal, with public comment on the draft closing October 19.

The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities released the 135-page draft update to the Southeast Alaska Transportation Plan in September, setting 20-year priorities for roads, ferries, airports, harbors and trails that feed into the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program.

The phrase "Juneau Access" does not appear, nor does Katzehin or any mention of an east-side road. The draft does not say the project was cancelled or reconsidered, and gives no reason for the omission.

The Federal Highway Administration issued a Record of Decision on April 3, 2006, the final federal sign-off, selecting the East Lynn Canal Highway to Katzehin, with shuttle ferries to Haines and Skagway. Conservation groups sued, and a federal court ruled in 2009 that the environmental review was invalid; the Ninth Circuit upheld that ruling. A subsequent Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement drew 42,214 submissions and testimony from 118 people at 2014 hearings. None of this appears in the current draft.

The 2004 plan it replaces called for a 68-mile road up the east side of Lynn Canal to Skagway, plus a shuttle to Haines, priced at $285.7 million total, justified by the line that Juneau is the largest community on the North American mainland without a highway connection to the continental system. In its place, the draft describes the Chilkat Connector Feasibility Study, evaluating west-side alternatives: a ferry from Cascade Point to William Henry Bay or Pyramid Harbor, or a new road to the existing Klehini River Bridge north of Haines. The study is underway, with a draft report expected in 2026, though none has been published.

The Cascade Point ferry terminal, at Mile 42 of the Glacier Highway, is furthest along, in design at a cost of $50 million to $100 million as a public-private partnership with Goldbelt, Inc., on Goldbelt land. The department says it delivers a priority set by Governor Mike Dunleavy to strengthen regional connectivity, and has said separately it is advancing Cascade Point using funds appropriated for the Juneau Access project, framing it as improving reliability rather than substituting for the highway. Goldbelt does not speak in the record, though the plan lists it among the region's Native corporations.

The Juneau-Douglas North Crossing appears in the capital table at $360 million to $1.1 billion, with only "Discretionary Grants" listed as a funding source, footnoted to an unfinished, unpublished study. It is the only Juneau project in the table with no formula money named; the $30 million Glacier Lemon Spur Extension lists two formula programs. The plan calls the Juneau-Douglas Bridge the area's only crossing and cites emergency access concerns, yet the same bridge also appears on the plan's own list of at-risk infrastructure, alongside the Ketchikan viaducts, Salmon Creek Dam and the Mendenhall glacial lake outburst flood risk.

The plan states plainly it cannot guarantee funding for any of this. In a letter dated August 31, Commissioner Ryan Anderson writes that the plan is the regional multimodal transportation plan, not a ferry service plan, and that it reflects extensive coordination with tribes, local governments and businesses.

Engagement reached about 160 individuals across a region of roughly 70,000 people. Appendix J: Public Engagement Summary is referenced twice but not published among the posted appendices A through I. No named resident, official, tribal representative or business is quoted in the 135 pages, despite the plan listing 19 federally recognized tribes and 13 Alaska Native corporations, including the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes and the Douglas Indian Association.

Comments are due October 19, by email to [email protected] or through the project website. Questions go to (907) 562-2000. A virtual open house runs 11:30 a.m. Sept. 21 on Zoom, linked from that site. A separate 45-day comment period on the draft 2027-2030 improvement program closes October 29.