Action Alert: DOT Pushing Juneau Road Again!
Despite the 2009 federal court ruling against the construction of the Juneau Road due to Alaska DOT’s failure to adequately study a marine alternative, the state is again pushing forward with its effort to construct a 51 mile dead-end road up Lynn Canal.
Check out SEACC's Juneau Road page for background and videos.
The Juneau Road would extend from the current end-of-the-road at Echo Cove, disrupt sensitive habitat in Berner’s Bay, navigate through 36 identified active avalanche zones, and terminate at a new ferry terminal at the Katzehin River delta. Travelers would then board a shuttle ferry and continue on toward Haines or Skagway. The Alaska DOT project purpose and need pitches that a Juneau Road will reduce travel time and costs to travelers (both of which are dubious claims), yet it fails to make mention of traveler safety or travel reliability and predictability. Additionally, Alaska DOT makes no mention of the project’s reliance on federal dollars, which are becoming increasingly scarce for boondoggle roads to nowhere.
With funding for new Alaska Class Ferries already on the table, the state should be able to reorganize the ferry schedule to address ridership and convenience issues while providing safe and reliable transportation to residents of our region. Alaska Ship and Drydock in Ketchikan hopes to construct these new ferries, which would create 200+ year round jobs in town. Let’s tell our policy makers we support improving our existing infrastructure—ferries—and we oppose the construction of unneeded and unsafe roads.
Alaska DOT is currently soliciting public comments for its scoping phase of the SEIS process. This is your opportunity to voice concerns about the purpose and need of the project and what alternatives and issues should be studied during the EIS process.
For more information, refer to SEACC's scoping comments, our talking points, our Juneau Road page, and the state's Juneau Road EIS page.
Comments are due on Monday, Feburary 20, 2012. Use this comment form or send comments to
Want to learn more? Call Daven in our office to chat or brainstorm. 586-6942. Or email daven@seacc.org.
