State refusal to follow road planning rules puts summer highway construction season at risk
The Dunleavy administration is putting all road construction projects at risk with its intransigence and refusal to follow federal highway planning rules on a handful of projects.
The so-called final version of the Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan, known as the STIP, should be rejected by the Federal Highway Administration. The STIP is the blueprint for road construction projects, relying almost entirely on federal funds, and is supposed to cover 2024 to 2027.
I say the plan should be rejected because the state has refused to remove projects from the plan that can’t legally be there because they were not advanced by local planning agencies in Fairbanks and Anchorage. The projects were decided upon by the Dunleavy administration.
In Fairbanks, the local planning agency includes a wide range of transportation and government officials.
Two Fairbanks projects that can’t legally be in the STIP are listed below, both generated by the Dunleavy administration to help the Kinross ore-hauling operation.
One is replacing the Steese Bridge over Chena Hot Springs Road. The second is replacing the northbound section of the Richardson Highway bridge at the Chena Flood Control project outside North Pole.
I’ve asked the Department of Transportation & Public Facilities why the Dunleavy administration is putting all 2024 highway construction projects at risk with this approach.
One reason the STIP was not approved last fall by the federal agency when it should have been was because the state bypassed local authorities entirely, violating federal law. The feds gave the state a 180-day extension.
Without an approved transportation plan, the state risks losing hundreds of millions in federal money and having it redistributed to other states. This sounds like No to the Future, Dunleavy style, or a dumb game of chicken with the federal highway agency.
This is an alarming situation.