Confusion over how and which part of the West Susitna Access Road the Borough is supporting led to a lengthy discussion at the November Assembly meeting.
Assemblymember McKee says that she disagrees that the Borough is offering continued support, as stated in the back-up documentation. She says the Borough asked for more information about the feasibility of the road project, particularly the environmental impacts. McKee went on to say that Alaska Industrial Development Export Authority, or AIDEA, the organization responsible for the original road proposal has a negative six percent success rate for projects they have put forward.
McKee wasn’t the only assemblymember who had issues with the wording. Assemblymember Nowers proposed an amendment to the original priorities that would add “publicly accessible” to the wording, but that amendment failed. She also proposed an amendment that added “State-maintained” to the wording to prevent the Borough from spending funds to take care of the road. That amendment passed.
Public support for the Road was mixed at the meeting, but there has been significant and vocal opposition since it was proposed. In an interview last week about the road project, father and son owners of Rainy Pass Lodge, Steve Perrins and son Steve are both opposed to the road project. The younger Perrins says he’s not opposed to development, but this project would have a significant impact on existing businesses.
“This road would put about 20 wilderness lodges out of business that are hunting operations, fishing operations, ecotourism. What we would be doing is trading one industry, which is a renewable resource of tourism for a non-renewable resource of mining. I’m not against mining, but let’s find a way to do it together.”
Assemblymember Yundt discussed the public survey conducted in summer 2023 that showed significant support for the West Susitna Access Road. Assemblymember Nowers asked who initiated and conducted the survey. Yundt says Dittman was the company that conducted it, but he didn’t care who did it, only that it showed overwhelming support.
“I don’t know who it was on behalf of it. It really doesn’t matter to me.”
The survey was conducted on behalf of the Friends of West Susitna, a non-profit group dedicated to promoting responsible development and recreational opportunities in the Susitna Region. Survey participants were polled with a discussion about supporting a 100-mile unpaved road for resource development and public access. At the time, the road was not slated for public access and the State had not offered the 15 to 18 mile public piece. About 60 percent of the 344 participants said they would support the 100-mile publicly accessible road.
This single phone survey is in contradiction to the Borough’s own multiple surveys that received 1,368 comments, reaching residents via email, text message, in person, and mail. That set of surveys showed an overwhelming lack of support for the West Susitna Access Road.
These discussions came before Borough Manager Mike Brown clarified that there were two projects on the table, one for the State to build the first 15 to 18 miles as a public road and another proposed by AIDEA that may or may not connect to the public road.
“In July the State DOT [Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities] did include a separate project for a public road to get across the Big Su. So if it’s in the STIP [Statewide Transportation Improvement Program] and built by DOT, it would be a public road. It would absolutely have to be a public road. And it would likely be a DOT-maintained road.”
The West Susitna Access Road project will remain in the Borough’s legislative priorities, though it is still unclear if they support the State’s proposal, AIDEA’s proposal, or both.
The Assembly also discussed the Point MacKenzie Rail Project. They propose to make it a multi-modal corridor on top of the previous alignment for the railway. This would provide a two-lane arterial road next to the rail and would serve as a utility corridor. The current estimate to construct the new roadway is $72 million. About 80 percent of the easements needed for the original rail project have already been acquired, but additional easements would be needed to accommodate a roadway.
The State House Transportation Committee discussed the railroad potential on Monday. Manager Brown says that the Borough does not have the funding to push the project forward, but is encouraged that the State is still interested in pursuing transportation in the Point MacKenzie area.
This railway extension project could link with the proposed West Susitna Access Road, opening a 36-mile corridor for development, recreation, and even utilities from Point MacKenzie to the west side of the Susitna River.
