Road-planning debacle is the most serious failure of Dunleavy’s time in office
One of the major blunders by the Dunleavy administration on the Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan deals with a 33-year-old federal rule that the state claims is brand new.
This is the rule that the state can’t insert projects into the STIP without working with and getting approval from the local Metropolitan Planning Organizations, such as those in Anchorage and Fairbanks.
In its wisdom, the Dunleavy administration did not get approval from the Metropolitan Planning Organizations in Anchorage and Fairbanks for several projects the state inserted into the STIP. Those projects have now been removed from the state plan.
“As you are aware, this is a new requirement for Alaska’s STIP,” Transportation Commissioner Ryan Anderson and his ghost-writing legal team wrote to federal highway officials about the rule.
“DOT&PF is currently inquiring to our sister states to determine whether this heightened authority for MPOs to review, limit or reject proposed projects by sovereign entities (state, federal or tribal) is required in any other jurisdiction,” Anderson wrote February 22.
This sounds like a threat from Attorney General Tregarrick Taylor to unleash Statehood Defense Coordinator Craig Richards to hire Outside attorneys to snarl at the feds.
But federal officials and state officials who know how to navigate the federal bureaucracy are aware that this is an old requirement.
That’s because it has been in effect with no significant change since 1991, according to a new letter from federal highway officials.
That’s 33 years.
The “interpretation of the requirements has been consistent for decades,” wrote Sandra Garcia-Aline of the federal highway agency and Susan Fletcher of the federal transit agency.
In their joint letter, the federal officials gave Anderson the exact federal regulations and laws that have been on the books since the first Bush administration.
I went into detail on this specific the other day, but it deserves more attention. It reflects on a level of incompetence and arrogance that is impossible to ignore.
The mishandling of the STIP, the most serious management failure of Dunleavy’s time in office, has put hundreds of millions in federal highway funds and thousands of Alaska jobs in immediate jeopardy. The entire road-building season is at risk.
This, from the governor who complains about people who don’t say yes to every idea about using public resources for private gain. He should have said something about saying yes to getting the STIP done on time so that the road construction season is not canceled.
Your contributions help support independent analysis and political commentary by Alaska reporter and author Dermot Cole. Thank you for reading and for your support. Either click here to use PayPal or send checks to: Dermot Cole, Box 10673, Fairbanks, AK 99710-0673.
Write me at dermotmcole@gmail.com