Alaska DOT&PF is the state agency that builds and maintains highways, airports, harbors and ferries statewide. It oversees road construction, airport operations, harbor facilities and the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry service as part of the State of Alaska.
Photo by Paxson Woelber, via Flickr · Photo source · CC BY 2.0
dot.alaska.gov ↗Alaska
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Numbers are stories in the last 30 days.
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Week of Aug 10
An FAA cleanup contract for Gustavus, most of it at Metlakatla
A small new FAA contract targets Gustavus, where PFAS 'forever chemicals' from firefighting foam have kept residents on hauled-in water since 2018.
by Melinda Communities.News2mo ago1 min read
Crews dug out Alaska's remote seasonal highways for summer, meeting in the middle of the Denali
Alaska cleared its remote seasonal highways for summer, with crews meeting in the middle of the 135-mile Denali Highway. A $1.25M federal grant paid for it.
by Walter AlaskaNews2mo ago1 min read
Nearly four years on, Alaska has been paid 15 percent of Merbok's $90.9 million
Nearly four years after Typhoon Merbok, only about 15% of the FEMA rebuild money has been paid out — and the deadline to finish the work is seven weeks away.
by Lucas Brown3mo ago3 min read
Old Chena Ridge Road closed for duration of roundabout construction
Road is closed, but only temporarily. One day.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
A $1.8M grant to plan safer paths near Cantwell, with two catches
A $1.8 million grant will plan biking and walking paths on a dangerous Parks Highway stretch near Cantwell — but who runs it, and who'd plow them, is unclear.
by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago2 min read
Alaska will test whether Starlink can keep its road crews online in the bush
Alaska will test whether Starlink can keep its road crews and equipment connected in the bush, in a state already home to more than 60,000 of the dishes.
by Melinda Communities.News3mo ago1 min read
A dollar-a-year lease would help stand up an American Legion post near Alaska's first state veterans cemetery
A dollar-a-year lease would help build an American Legion post in Salcha, beside Alaska's first state veterans cemetery — a 257-acre site for 12,000+ vets.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Akiachak is in line for fiber broadband, one of seven roadless villages getting wired
Akiachak is in line for fiber broadband, one of seven roadless Y-K Delta villages being wired in a project reaching nearly 3,000 long-unserved households.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Alaska trains construction workers, then struggles to keep them
Just 19% of Alaska's ironworkers and 44% of electricians are still in the trade five years on, a study found — a retention gap atop a worker shortage.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Landslide on Canadian side closes Klondike Highway at the border
A landslide on the Canadian side closed the Klondike Highway at the U.S.-Canada border Tuesday evening, cutting Skagway's road link to the Yukon during peak summer travel season.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Anchorage airport noise study weighs which measures to recommend; public comment Aug. 25
Anchorage residents under the flight paths can comment Aug. 25 as the airport noise study picks what fixes to recommend, from flight-path changes to a jet ban.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Collision closes northbound Richardson Highway at Milepost 352, detour via Badger Road
Big crash road closed
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Erosion is forcing Alaska to move the Noatak airport two miles west
The Noatak River has eroded to within about 160 feet of the village's airport — its only lifeline — so Alaska is moving the whole airport two miles west.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Anchorage and Fairbanks airports finish swapping PFAS foam out of crash trucks
Anchorage and Fairbanks airports replaced PFAS firefighting foam in their crash trucks with fluorine-free alternatives, cutting PFAS levels up to 99.999% in the tanks.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
A planned Anchorage road would cut into a Hillside couple's yard — so the commission hit pause
A planned Hillside road would cut 45 feet into an Anchorage couple's yard and move their well, so the commission paused the design pending a fresh survey.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Parks Highway drops to one lane at Nenana's Tanana River Bridge Aug. 18
Are you driving down that specific road, look at the story… Are you not driving down that specific road, probably not about you
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Coming up
Northern Region FFY27 NHS Interstate Highway Preventative Maintenance and Repair – Public Comment Deadline
Public notice
Written comments due: ADA-72915 Proposal to Permit Use of State Airport Land at Stebbins Airport
Public notice
Written comments due: ADA-72180 Proposal to Extend a State Airport Land Lease at Kotzebue Airport
Public notice
Parks Highway MP 303-306 Rehabilitation Public Open House
Public notice
Nordale Road/Peede Road Roundabout Public Open House
Public notice
About Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities
Photo by Paxson Woelber, via Flickr · Photo source · CC BY 2.0
dot.alaska.gov ↗Alaska
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF) is the State of Alaska agency that builds and maintains highways, airports, harbors and ferries. It runs the Alaska Marine Highway System and oversees road construction and rural airports across the state.
The department schedules highway closures and construction, leases airport land, and draws federal highway and aviation grants for projects from Nome to Haines. It puts a statewide transportation plan out for public comment and sources rock and gravel from state pits.
Its plans meet scrutiny from local planners, as when Anchorage disputes the grant figures in a draft. Road and ferry links for remote communities, such as the King Cove road and a ferry to Unalaska, raise recurring questions, and federal highway money helps pay to operate the Whittier tunnel.
More from Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities
Deadhorse airport upgrade will fill nearly 79 acres of wetlands with no mitigation
A Deadhorse Airport upgrade at the North Slope's oil-field gateway will fill nearly 79 acres of wetlands — with no mitigation planned, the state says, for lack of any local program to do it through.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Week of Aug 3
State proposes five-year lease extension for Noatak school site at airport
Alaska is proposing a five-year lease extension for Noatak's school and fuel tank farm on airport land, even though the airport itself is scheduled to close once a replacement facility opens.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
King Cove road materials arrive on scene as local workers hit another milestone in the development of a contested project
A barge of equipment for the long-disputed King Cove-Cold Bay Road has reached King Cove, though the fight over the route through Izembek refuge continues.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Potter Drive designs test Anchorage guidance on in-street bike lanes
Anchorage planners will review four design options for Potter Drive that would add its first sidewalks and bike lanes, though two conflict with a city plan recommending a separated bikeway.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago2 min read
The state is drilling test holes for a Seward Highway fix, as a bigger $1.5 billion plan draws fire
The state is rebidding a routine Seward Highway drilling job, but the real fight is a $1.5 billion rebuild up the road that critics call oversized.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
The 5th and 6th avenue rebuild just hit $370 million — and even planners are flagging "scope creep"
Anchorage's 5th and 6th avenue rebuild just hit $370 million with no clear way to pay for it — and even the city's planners are flagging scope creep.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
As Anchorage cements its role as a global cargo hub, the growth is colliding with its neighbors
Anchorage's cargo boom brings nighttime jet noise — and a new study warns the fixes might just shift it from one neighborhood to another, not end it.
by Alaska News3mo ago2 min read
The road to Bear Valley Elementary would narrow, and won't fix the jam
The road to Bear Valley Elementary already backs up at pickup, so the plan is to make it narrower — which, the project admits, won't fix the jam.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Winter ferry bookings open on the system that's the only road many Alaska towns have
Winter ferry bookings are open on the Alaska Marine Highway — the federally funded "road" for the four-in-five Alaska towns with no highway — even as some communities say this winter's schedule is still too thin.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
Alaska's freight system was built to ship oil out. Now it's about getting packages in.
Alaska's freight network is shifting from moving oil out to bringing online-shopping deliveries in, as pipeline throughput slides and e-commerce surges through Anchorage.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
A separated path toward Hatcher Pass would get walkers and cyclists off Palmer-Fishhook Road's dangerous shoulders
A planned 8.5-mile path would finally get walkers and cyclists off Palmer-Fishhook Road's white-knuckle shoulders — if the Mat-Su Borough can pull together the $4.5 million to build it.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Wasilla resident gets gas station to study sidewalk on school bus route
A Wasilla resident got a new gas station to study building a sidewalk on a street where kids walk to the bus. The commission also OK'd a youth mental health facility.
by Walter AlaskaNewsadded 3mo ago1 min read
No heat closes Dillingham's job center counter early
A heating failure closed walk-in service at Dillingham's Bristol Bay Job Center on Tuesday afternoon, sending staff home at noon and cutting counter hours short.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Interior Alaska's spring-thaw weight limits lift Wednesday for haulers
Spring-thaw weight limits are lifting on Interior Alaska roads Wednesday — haulers can apply for overweight permits again, but full loads aren't automatic.
by Alaska News3mo ago1 min read
Parks Highway delays ease on one stretch, but not the next
Parks Highway traffic control is gone between MP 322 and 325 after a haul-truck crossing opened, but the next stretch south still has speed limits and diversions until 2028.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Flames at Fairbanks airport this week are a drill, not an emergency
Those flames and smoke at Fairbanks airport this week are a scheduled firefighting drill, Aug. 3-7 — timed with notice so no one mistakes them for wildfire.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
The jet bridges at the Anchorage airport are wearing out
Those clunky old jet bridges at the Anchorage airport are wearing out, and the state is replacing them gate by gate through 2028. Two more are up for bid now.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min readFrom 
Week of Jul 27
Anchorage historic panel objects to Seward Highway safety review it says skipped the city
Anchorage's historic commission objects to the Safer Seward Highway review, saying the state cut the city out and that a wider, faster road threatens historic sites like Beluga Point.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
A $1.5 billion Seward Highway plan pits safety against the Turnagain Arm viewshed
A $1.5 billion Seward Highway rebuild has split Anchorage — the state says it's a safety fix for a deadly corridor; a coalition of critics says it's a highway-widening project that would scar Turnagain Arm.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read
North Slope phone co-op moves to keep its Deadhorse airport site
The North Slope's phone co-op wants five more years for its tower and shop on Deadhorse Airport land, a no-bid extension of an existing $14,250-a-year lease.
by Maggie AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Sterling Highway closed in both directions at Milepost 164 after collision
Sterling Highway closed in both directions at Milepost 164 after a multi-vehicle crash Thursday afternoon, expected to remain closed into the evening.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
State would lease airport land at 18 cents a foot until 2076
Alaska wants to rent two acres at its busiest cargo airport for 18 cents a foot until 2076. A bargain for Anchorage, or a 50-year giveaway?
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
Klondike Highway closes overnight near Skagway for rockfall work
The Klondike Highway near Skagway is closed 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. on weeknights for rockfall work. Evening single-lane delays up to 10 minutes until 11.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago1 min read
The state says Girdwood's Moose Meadow trails are trespassing
Four beloved Girdwood trails cross onto state airport land, and the state now calls using them trespassing — just as residents push to make them official.
by Walter AlaskaNews3mo ago2 min read