Following the Memorandum of Understanding signed Feb. 9 by Yukon’s Premier Ranj Pillai and Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy, much-needed upgrades on the north Alaska Highway will begin in 2025 and continue until the end of the project in 2027.
In February 2024, the Yukon and Alaska submitted a joint application for U.S. government funding under the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) discretionary grant program.
Advertisement
Construction and upgrades will be funded by a $31.125M USD (approximately $42.6M CAD) investment by the State of Alaska through the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). This funding will help to ensure safe and efficient travel for Yukoners and Alaskans along a major northern route.
The highway serves as the primary land link between southeast Alaska and the rest of the United States and connects many rural communities in the Yukon including Haines Junction, Destruction Bay, Burwash Landing and Beaver Creek. This roadway also links the traditional territories of the Champagne and Aishihik, Kluane, and White River First Nations.
This agreement commits Alaska’s Department of Transportation and Public Facilities and the Yukon’s Department of Highways and Public Works to work together to restore sections of the Alaska Highway in the Yukon.
The project will target a portion of the north Alaska highway, spanning approximately 222.5 kilometers from Destruction Bay to the Canada/US border. This section faces a range of road maintenance and safety challenges due to thawing permafrost. Restoration efforts will involve resurfacing, repairing the road underneath the surface and culverts. It will also include improvement to the drainage to make sure the road can be used safely at its intended speed.
“This partnership showcases the importance of working in collaboration towards a shared goal for northerners.” Premier Ranj Pillai said in a prepared statement.
Advertisement
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) has specific language that allows portions of the Alaska Highway in Canada to compete for and receive US federal grant funding for its reconstruction
In the same statement Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said, “This success in the STIP application underscores the importance of maintaining a safe and efficient passage for all visitors to the North, and we look forward to an exciting construction season ahead.”
STIP is separate from RAISE funding and work can proceed without the latter.
Minister of Highways and Public works in Yukon, Nils Clarke expressed his gratitude to Alaska for contributing to the project.
The funding allocated under this program will help mitigate the effects of thawing permafrost on this essential roadway. This contribution showcases both our governments’ recognition of the importance of this road link, as well as our commitment to keep the north Alaska highway safe for all road travelers,” said Clarke
Advertisement
Share This Story, Choose Your Platform!
Gretchen Wehmhoff is the publisher of the The Skagway News. She believes Skagway deserves a newspaper. It’s a special place filled with great people.
Rural schools, mostly in Southeast Alaska, are facing a major funding shortfall this year after the U.S. House of Representatives failed to reauthorize a bill aimed at funding communities alongside national forests and lands.
The bipartisan Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act was first passed in 2000, and enacted to assist communities impacted by the declining timber industry. It provided funds for schools, as well as for roads, emergency services and wildfire prevention. The award varies each year depending on federal land use and revenues. The legislation is intended to help communities located near federal forests and lands pay for essential services. In 2023, the law awarded over $250 million nationwide, and over $12.6 million to Alaska.
But this year, the bill passed the Senate, but stalled in the House of Representatives amid partisan negotiations around the stopgap spending bill to keep the government open until March. House Republicans decided not to vote on the bill amid a dispute around health care funding, a spokesperson for the bill’s sponsor, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, told the Oregon Capital Chronicle, which first reported the story.
Eleven boroughs, as well as unincorporated areas, in the Tongass and Chugach national forests have typically received this funding, awarded through local municipalities. According to 2023 U.S. Forest Service data, some of the districts who received the largest awards, and now face that shortfall, include Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Sitka and Yakutat, as well as the unincorporated areas.
Advertisement
“We’re already at our bottom,” said Superintendent Carol Pate of the Yakutat School District, which received over $700,000 in funding, one of the largest budget sources for its 81 students.
“We are already down to one administrator with six certified teachers,” Pate said in a phone interview Thursday. “We have a small CTE (career and technical education) program. We don’t have any art, we don’t have any music. We have limited travel. Anything that we lose means we lose instruction, and our goal is for the success of our students.”
Yakatat is facing a $126,000 deficit this year, a large sum for their $2.3 million budget, Pate said. “So that’s a pretty significant deficit for us. We do our best to be very conservative during the school year to make up that deficit. So wherever we can save money, we do.”
The school has strong support from the borough, Pate said. However, last year they were forced to cut funding for one teacher and a significant blow for the school, she said.
Advertisement
“We’re trying very hard to break the cycle, but it’s a continuing cycle,” she said. “Every time we lose something, we lose kids because of it, and the more kids we lose, the more programs we lose.”
In the southern Tongass National Forest community of Wrangell, the school district received over $1 million in funds last year, and Superintendent Bill Burr said the federal funding loss is dramatic.
“It’s pretty devastating from a community standpoint,” Burr said in a phone interview. “Because that is very connected to the amount of local contribution that we get from our local borough, it has a dramatic effect on the school district, so I’m disappointed.”
“As these cuts continue to happen, there’s less and less that we’re able to do,” he said. “School districts are cut pretty much as thin as they can. So when these things happen, with no real explanation, the impact for districts that do receive secure schools funding is even more dramatic.”
Whether and how the funding loss will impact the district has yet to be determined, as budgets for next year are still in development, Burr said, but it could mean cuts to matching state grants, facilities projects, or staff salaries. He said most non-state money for the district comes from the federal program.
Advertisement
“Part of our funding does come from sales tax, but a majority of it comes from the secure rural schools (grant),” he said. “So without increases in other areas, the amount of money that can come to the schools is going to be injured.”
“We do have contracts, and a majority of our money is paid in personnel. So we would have those contracts to fill, regardless of the funding, until the end of the year. A major reduction really will affect our ability to provide school services and personnel, so it could have a massive impact on next year’s, the fiscal ‘26 year, budget,” he said.
The district is facing an over $500,000 budget deficit this year, Burr said, and so the loss puts further pressure on the district.
“So we’re continuing to find areas that we can cut back but still provide the same service. But that’s getting harder and harder,” he said.
The schools in unincorporated areas known as regional educational attendance areas, received over $6 million in funding through the program.
Advertisement
Alaska Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan supported the bill through the Senate.
Murkowski was disappointed that the bill was not reauthorized, a spokesperson for the senator said.
“As a longtime advocate for this program, she recognizes its critical role in funding schools and essential services in rural communities,” said Joe Plesha, in a text Friday. “She is actively working to ensure its renewal so that states like Alaska are not disadvantaged.”
Former Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola also supported the funding.
Alaska’s school funding formula is complex, and takes into account the local tax base, municipalities’ ability to fund schools, and other factors. With the loss of funding for the local borough’s portion, whether the Legislature will increase funding on the state’s side is to be determined.
Advertisement
The Department of Education and Early Development did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
Superintendents Burr and Pate described hope for the upcoming legislative session, and an increase in per-pupil spending. “The loss of secure rural schools funding makes it even more difficult to continue with the static funding that education in the state has received,” Burr said.
“I really have high hopes for this legislative season. I think that the people that we’ve elected recognize the need to put funding towards education,” Pate said.
The funding could be restored, if the legislation is reintroduced and passed by Congress. Both Oregon Democratic Sen. Wyden and Idaho Republican Sen. Mike Crapo have said they support passing the funding this year.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – On Thursday, a vehicle collision at mile 91 of the Seward Highway left one dead and two injured, according to an update from APD.
The collision involved two vehicles — a semi-truck and a passenger vehicle.
The Girdwood Fire Department responded at about 8:41 p.m. and pronounced the male driver of the vehicle dead at the scene.
APD says a male and female were transported to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Advertisement
At the time of publication, the southbound and northbound lanes of the Seward Highway remain closed.
APD is currently investigating the circumstances of the collision and the victim’s identity will be released once they have completed next-of-kin procedures.
Original Story: An incident involving two vehicles at mile 91 of Seward Highway leaves two injured, according to Anchorage Police Department (APD).
APD is responding to the scene and travelers should expect closures at mile 91 for both northbound and southbound lanes of the Seward Highway for at least the next 3 to 4 hours.
Updates will be made as they become available.
Advertisement
See a spelling or grammar error? Report it to web@ktuu.com
