Fairbanks-area draft transportation plan and its air pollution test are open for comment

The Fairbanks area's draft 20-year transportation plan passes a federal air pollution test, according to an analysis now out for public comment. Completing that test is what the Environmental Protection Agency has said will lift a freeze that has held up some of the area's biggest road projects since late 2023.

FAST Planning, the transportation planning organization for Fairbanks and North Pole, is holding open houses on the plan Wednesday in Fairbanks and Thursday in North Pole. Comments are due Oct. 30. Its board is expected to consider adopting the plan in November, and the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration, which make the final call, are scheduled to sign off by Dec. 31.

EPA triggered the freeze when it partly rejected the state's Fairbanks air quality plan in December 2023. Under the freeze, new projects can be added to the area's plans only if they're found exempt from the air quality rules, according to FAST Planning's project list.

Two projects in the new plan are waiting on it. Construction money for an interchange at the Steese and Johansen expressways will be added "if conformity freeze is lifted," FAST Planning's August draft project list says. A rebuild of the Airport Way and Cushman Street intersection waits on the same thing or an exemption. The plan puts the two at $95 million and $40 million, Alaska News reported Oct. 15.

The test compares projected fine-particle pollution from vehicles, known as PM2.5 and counting exhaust plus brake and tire wear, with limits set in the state's air quality plan. For 2027, the area's deadline to meet the federal standard, the analysis projects 0.0509 tons on an average winter day against a limit of 0.0516 tons, a margin of about 1.4 pounds. The gap widens after that. By 2040, projected emissions are about a quarter below the limit.

The test leaves out nitrogen oxides, which EPA agreed in 2023 don't contribute significantly to the area's fine-particle pollution. EPA says wood burning for home heating is the primary contributor to the area's pollution problem.

EPA first designated part of the Fairbanks North Star Borough out of compliance with its 24-hour fine-particle standard in 2009 and moved it from the Moderate to the Serious category in 2017. It approved the state's revised plan last fall, setting Dec. 31, 2027, as the deadline to meet the standard. The state has since proposed splitting the pollution zone into Fairbanks and North Pole areas, Alaska News reported Oct. 16.

The draft plan lists 230 projects, programs and plans worth more than $1.6 billion. FAST Planning calls it an interim plan meant to keep the area's air quality certification current while it updates its travel model. A fuller update is planned for fall 2027.