JUNEAU -- Alaska is slated to spend big bucks in the coming years on several "megaprojects" -- those expected to cost a half-billion dollars or more. They began when the state was flush with cash, but the agencies that want to build them are still pushing, despite looming state budget deficits.
With the state now looking toward a time when its ample savings start drying up, legislators serving on the House and Senate transportation committees were told that the state's top megaprojects should be funded before the money vanishes.
Officials defended state plans to build a 200-mile road to the Ambler mining district, an isolated area with known mineral resources and no surface access, as well as a 50-mile road out of Juneau, the state capitol that can only be reached by air and sea.
The state's most prominent highway project, the Knik Arm Crossing, was not part of the Thursday hearing before the joint transportation committees. Plans to revamp the Knik Arm Bridge and Toll Authority and radically restructure how the project would be financed have stalled the bill so far this session.
That will change after the Senate Finance Committee is done discussing gas pipelines, said Rep. Mark Neuman, R-Wasilla, and a member of KABATA's board for directors.
"There's a bill that's in the works right now that will be introduced in the Senate next week," he said. He declined to say what would be in the bill.
The change would likely come in a committee substitute for a bill extending the life of KABATA -- a bill that has been amended to put the independent agency under the supervision of the more-respected Alaska Housing Finance Corp.
At the Thursday transportation hearing, Department of Transportation and Public Facilities officials used their allotted time to defend the Juneau Access Project by launching an assault on the state ferry system.
Ferries are so costly to build, maintain and operate that they need to be replaced with roads wherever possible, the department's Jeff Ottesen said. That holds true even when there are engineering challenges, he maintained.
"Roads are fundamentally less costly," he said. "There's a big initial cost, but that cost becomes savings as time marches on."
The attack on ferries focused on overall state subsidies, which Ottesen said amounted to two dollars in state subsidy for every dollar paid in passenger tickets. However, he did not provide specifics on the Lynn Canal run, which is one of the state's top revenue generators.
Retired Juneau teacher Clay Good was chosen to speak against the DOT proposal, which he called "an expensive and dangerous road to a remote ferry terminal far from the population center it is meant to serve."
The Juneau road would extend north along the steep walls of Lynn Canal toward Skagway but stop at the Katzehin River where a new ferry terminal would be built. From there, newly built ferries would make frequent trips to Haines and Skagway, connecting Juneau with the continental road system.
Good also questioned the validity of the cost estimates, contending that cost overruns are likely.
Transportation activist and engineer Lois Epstein spoke against the Ambler road, but she has also researched the Juneau Access Project and other megaprojects. She said Good's fears of cost overruns were well-founded.
"When we are talking megaprojects, other states have found having independent verification is very helpful" when it comes to cost estimates, she said. "There is a tendency for promoters to lowball them."
The Department of Transportation has turned over the Ambler road project to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority. The agency's Mark Davis said Alaska selected the land at statehood because of its mineral resources, and there were several mine prospects there.
"Economic studies indicate that without a road the mines cannot be developed," he said.
Estimated costs for such a road range from half a billion to a billion dollars, with $8.5 million in this year's budget.
Despite local opposition to the road and fears that it would threaten a subsistence lifestyle, Rep. Craig Johnson, R-Anchorage, said the road would provide what was really needed in Alaska -- jobs.
Contact Pat Forgey at pat(at)alaskadispatch.com.