Transportation
RSSTransportation in Alaska is the network of highways, ferries, airports and transit systems connecting its communities. It tracks highway maintenance, closures and construction, Alaska Marine Highway System ferries, and local transportation planning and safety projects.
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Photo: Carol M. Highsmith via Wikimedia Commons · Photo source · Public domain
AMATS committee kept Seward Highway project in draft plan after staff asked to remove it
The AMATS Policy Committee voted Oct. 15 to release Anchorage's draft 2052 Transportation Plan for public comment with the Safer Seward Highway project still in it, draft minutes show. AMATS staff had asked the committee to remove the project first.
The plan from AMATS, short for Anchorage Metropolitan Area Transportation Solutions, guides road, transit and trail spending for the Anchorage Bowl and Chugiak-Eagle River for more than 20 years. Public comment on the draft closes Dec. 3, according to an Assembly memorandum. AMATS must finish the plan by Dec. 29 to avoid a potential freeze on new federal funding, June committee minutes show.
AMATS Executive Director Aaron Jongenelen said a letter from the state transportation department put the total project cost at $1.598 billion, while plan tables in that same letter added up to $1.638 billion. The parent project appeared at $116 million in those tables but $121 million in the letter's four-year funding list. Jongenelen said he emailed his questions to the department the day before the meeting.
Chair Katherine Keith, deputy commissioner of the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, called that a quick turnaround. She said she never received the email and wanted written answers for the record. Most of the gaps, she said, reflect differences between a long-range plan and the state's four-year funding list.
Public Works Director Kent Kohlhase moved to release the draft using the state's tables. Keith restated the motion to include the Seward Highway projects and a new 5th and 6th Avenue reconstruction, which staff said it no longer wanted removed. It passed without objection. The vote lists Stage 3 of the highway project, from Windy Corner to Rainbow, as both a Transportation Improvement Program item and a short-term project in the plan's timeline. Keith said Stage 3 is about $236 million, more than the state would normally program in one year, and is not yet in the state's four-year window.
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Stories on what’s next
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Latest
Week of Nov 9
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More from Transportation
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Week of Nov 2
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Egan Drive's winter 45 mph speed limit is now in effect in Juneau through Jan. 31
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Coming up
Juneau Assembly Regular Meeting
Assembly Chambers, Juneau, AK, and Zoom webinar (ID 915 1542 4903, or call 1-253-215-8782)
Meeting
AMATS Policy Committee Vote on Transportation Planning Boundary
Meeting
AMATS Policy Committee Vote on 2027-2030 Transportation Funding
Meeting
AMATS Policy Committee Meeting
Meeting
Public Hearing on 2052 Metropolitan Transportation Plan
Hearing
About Transportation
Transportation in Alaska takes in the highways, ferries, railroad, airports, barges and transit systems that connect its communities. Major routes include the Parks, Glenn, Seward, Sterling, Richardson and Dalton highways.
The state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities drafts a statewide road plan, and regional planners in Anchorage, Fairbanks and the Mat-Su set which projects get federal money. Crashes and closures on highways recur, along with construction schedules, seasonal road closures and the cost of barge freight to Western, Arctic and Southeast Alaska.
Transportation connects closely to infrastructure, economic development and energy. Local questions include transit and paratransit service, bike and walking paths, roundabouts at dangerous intersections and docks and ports for cruise ships and barges.
More from Transportation
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Week of Oct 26
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Comments close Friday on Mat-Su plan setting which roads can get federal money
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by Walter AlaskaNews2w ago2 min readFrom 
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