U-Med road money stay with Muni after Walker vetoes reappropriation to university

Among Governor Bill Walker’s vetoes announced earlier this week is the re-appropriation of nearly $19 million meant for the controversial Northern Access Project in Anchorage’s U-Med District.

But, that doesn’t mean the money can be used for other projects.

The legislature in May opted to reallocate funding for the Northern Access Project – otherwise known as the U-Med Road – to the University of Alaska after the project stalled.

The University wants the new road but Mayor Ethan Berkowitz declined to use the funds for the road extension project, citing a lack of support from area residents.

Governor Walker’s veto reverts that money back to the Municipality, where it was originally appropriated in 2013.

“So that $18 million will just remain in the account until we have a little bit better picture of what the future holds in terms of state support for Anchorage road and infrastructure projects,” Susanne Fleek-Green, Mayor Berkowitz’s chief of staff, said.

Given the fiscal uncertainty and local push-back against the proposed road through Anchorage’s U-Med District, Mayor Berkowitz halted work on the Northern Access Project when he took office last year – and Fleek-Green says that’s unlikely to change.

“For now, there’s enough neighborhood concerns with the project and lack of funding for other projects around town that we’re gonna remain in that wait and see mode,” Fleek-Green said.

The city’s top priority leading into the legislative session this year was securing funding to modernize the Port of Anchorage.

East Anchorage Representative Ivy Spohnholz believes this veto is largely a result of the governor listening to widespread dissent from area residents.

“Every single community council in the nearby affected area has actively opposed the U-Med Northern Access Road,” Spohnholz said. “And what this says to me is that he’s actually listening to individual Alaskans and not just organizations whose business interests would be served by it.”

The University of Alaska and area hospitals have been among the biggest proponents of the project.

For now, the $18.8 million will remain with the Municipality. If the money isn’t used by Fiscal Year 2019, it will return to the state, or the legislature could reappropriate the funds to other needs.