The Mat-Su Borough Assembly approved a resolution to support an earlier iteration of the proposed West Susitna Access Road that terminates in the Point MacKenzie area. But the latest version of the proposed project from the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, or DOT, shows it ending in Big Lake.
The West Susitna Access Road was approved in the State’s federal Transportation Improvement Program as a recreational access road. The public comment period for the scoping process, a first step in the environmental review, is still open until August 23rd. It became clear that the terminus had changed when the comment period opened last month.
Assembly members are largely in favor of bringing the road to the Point Mackenzie area. District 5 Assemblymember Bill Gamble says he attended multiple community council meetings where residents expressed concern about the potential for the road to handle more industrial traffic. And that it might shift away from being only a recreational access road.
“I think the general consensus though was if in the future if it ever is upgraded to an industrial-type haul road, that it goes somewhere to the rail bed and then makes a right and goes to the Port. That it does not go through any of the communities like Point MacKenzie or Big Lake.”
Economic opportunities and a commercial and industrial transportation corridor to Port MacKenzie are two major points in the resolution. Borough Manager Mike Brown says that the State changed the terminus because the road ending at Big Lake is the fastest and easiest option. However, he makes clear it would be short-sighted to end the road in Big Lake.
“But we do acknowledge that there are other opportunities in the future for this. If you have a 22-mile road that creates access to the west Susitna area, it’s kind of obvious there is probably going to be more in the future. What that more will look like will be beyond DOT’s scope.”
Completing the access to Port MacKenzie has been on the Borough’s wish list for many years. While proposed as a 22-mile recreational road, selecting the West Susitna Access route could be critical to the communities since it might become an industrial corridor in the future. It is still unclear if and how a mining road west of the Susitna River terminus might connect to this recreational road and who will pay for that. About 90% of the $76 million price tag for the recreational road will be covered by the federal government, with the State paying the rest.
