Lori Townsend, APRN – Anchorage
The state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities will be holding public hearings to see how residents of Western Alaska feel about the prospect of a road from the interior to Western Alaska. Meadow Bailey is a spokeswoman with DOT, she says the state study has a preferred alternative for what’s called the Yukon River corridor.
Bailey says the estimated cost to build a transportation corridor would cost between $2.3 and $2.7 billion. The hearings will be held on Monday morning in White Mountain and Monday afternoon in Koyuk. On Tuesday meetings are scheduled for Elim and Shaktoolik and on Wednesday in Unalakleet and Nome. Bailey says next week’s meeting schedule is the first round and will take comments and also gather more information.
Bailey says it’s not certain the road will be built at all, she says in researching the concept, DOT workers found documentation going back nearly 100 years, but she says the idea is to see if it’s desired and makes economic sense. The prospect of road access could mean increased economic opportunities.
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