LUTHERAN QUILTERS – Members of the Quilts for Comfort Group stand between pews draped with some of the 205 quilts they made, in the Sitka Lutheran Church Tuesday. The group made the quilts for five local non-profits and one in Anchorage. The remaining quilts are sent to Lutheran World Relief which distributes them to places around the world in need, such as Ukraine, as part of Personal Care Kits. Pictured are, from left, Helen Cunningham, Kathleen Brandt,Vicki Swanson, Paulla Hardy, Kim Hunter, Linda Swanson and Sue Fleming. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
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Daily Sitka Sentinel
DOT’s 20-Year Plan: Roads, Fewer Ferries
By Sentinel Staff
Rising costs and a static or declining population trend in the Alaska panhandle are among the challenges facing the state Department of Transportation in providing connections to and within Southeast Alaska by ferries, highways and airports, says the DOT’s Southeast regional planner.
About a dozen residents and a few city officials turned out Wednesday night for a presentation by planner Andy Hughes on the draft 20-year Southeast Alaska Transportation Plan.
Andy Hughes listens to public comments at Centennial Hall Wednesday. (Sentinel Photo)
An airport at Angoon, a road from Kake to Petersburg and the design of a road across Baranof Island to provide ferry service for Sitka on Chatham Strait are among the $2.5 billion in capital projects in the 20-year plan.
Within the next two years construction will start on two 280-foot “Alaska Class” dayboat ferries, one of the older mainline ferries (the Malaspina, Taku and Matanuska) will be retired, and all three will be gone by 2024.
“The system may continue to operate successfully without replacing both of the two remaining main-liners,” the draft document says.
Hughes said the DOT’s focus over the next 20 years will be toward shifting sections of the ferry routes to road-based transportation where possible to save costs. Expansion of the road system and using more shuttle ferries are part of that plan.
“We are constantly looking at ways to shorten (ferry) routes and save money,” Hughes said.
The Wednesday night open house was to provide information and not to take public testimony. Written comments will be accepted through Sept. 30, and the DOT’s final 20-year plan is to be issued later in the fall.
It was the proposed road across Baranof Island that drew the most interest from the Sitkans attending the presentation at Centennial Hall. Among the questions raised were whether the road would ruin the character of the Warm Springs village; the location of the Sitka end of the road; and the cost/savings benefit from the road.
The DOT plan estimates design of the road will cost $30 million, and construction of the road and terminal will cost $276 million.
The contract award for design of a cross-island road is in the SAT plan for the years 2029 to 2033, and award of the construction bid some time “beyond 2033.”
A Chatham connection to Sitka would save 12 hours of “steaming time” for the ferries servicing Sitka, Hughes said, and that’s the reason it’s on the list. Maintenance of the road is estimated at $1 million per year. On the bright side, it would allow two or three main line stops serving Sitka per week.
Hughes explained that it’s the cost of maintenance and operations that DOT is most concerned with, because those expenses are paid for by the state. Federal transportation dollars pay for infrastructure.
As an aside, Hughes observed that the Federal Highway Trust fund is going broke because of the outmoded gasoline tax formula that funds it. But he added that experience has shown him that even expert predictions about future funding are usually wrong.
Since Alaska as well as every other state has a stake in highway funding, he said he believes there will be a solution, “but I’m not going to guess what Congress will do.”
Noting that at least three other routes have been suggested for a road across the island, Hughes said that whatever route is initially chosen for study, every other possible route will also be studied in detail as part of the required Environmental Impact statement. It may turn out that a road to Rodman Bay or to Kelp Bay or to some other location may prove more feasible than Baranof, he said. Baranof is the site in the initial planning because it appears to be the most practical in relation to the main Marine Highway route through Southeast.
Commenting on the suggestion that a road to Rodman Bay would cost less than a road to Baranof, Hughes said the Rodman road would actually cost more because of the obstacle of a “tortuous terrain” to be crossed.
Turning to a number of local comments asserting that any road across the ice, avalanche chutes and steep slopes on the spine of Baranof Island would be impractical, Hughes said the experience of other countries does not support that view.
“Norway has the same problems in spades,” he said. DOT engineers have been to Norway and have seen how that country builds and maintains roads in such environments.
Much of Hughes’ presentation was about the disproportionately high cost of maintaining and operating the Alaska Marine Highway System as compared to roads and airports. Unlike roads and airports, which are fixed installations, the ferry system has the additional expense of building, maintaining and operating boats. Income from fares covers only 30 percent of the cost of running the ferry system, Hughes said.
As for the impact on Sitka, the 20-year plan calls for continued fast ferry service, more frequent mainline ferry service north and south and developing plans “for more efficient and lower cost ferry connection (Sitka-Warm Springs Bay).”
Overall, the SATP calls for “a better match of capacity to demand” in the ferry service, keeping the Bellingham and cross-gulf service, and emphasizing labor and fuel efficiency.”
All of the transportation plan alternatives considered made a sharp distinction between capital costs and operating costs: the preferred alternative for the combination of air, sea and land infrastructure in Southeast has the second highest capital costs, $1,066 billion over 20 years, among four considered. Hoever, there would be an annual maintenance and operating savings of 2 percent over a “baseline system” that had a 20-year capital cost of $667 million.
Hughes said that after the end of the public comment period on the 20-year SATP on Sept. 30, there will be future opportunities for public comment on the Environmental Impact Statements required for the individual elements of the plan.
Several at the Wednesday meeting said they were there to object to having Medvejie Bay as the start of the road to Warm Springs Bay. Although maps in the printed SAT draft show a Medvejie connection, Hughes said the current plan is to have it go up the Green River valley farther up Silver Bay.
The 20-year intermodal transportation plan for Southeast plan can be downloaded at www.dot.alaska.gov/satp or obtained by mail at $2 a copy from Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities SE Region, Box 112506, Juneau, Alaska 99811-2506.
Comments may be submitted by Fax (907-465-2016); email (dot.sapt@alaska.gov) or by mail.
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20 YEARS AGO
March 2004
Advertisement: Tea-Licious Tea House & Bakery 315 Lincoln Street Grand Opening! Freshly Baked Scones, Cakes & Pastries Innovative Salads, Soups & Sandwiches Harney & Sons Tea. Lunch * Afternoon Tea * Supper.
50 YEARS AGO
March 1974
Photo caption: National Republican Chairman George Bush takes a drink of water offered by Jan Craddick, Sitka delegate, during the Republican convention held here. Mrs. Craddick explained to Bush that the water was from Indian River, which means, according to local legend, that he will return.