Biden Administration botches Alaska highway plan so badly, it’s now sending officials north to fix it

By
Suzanne Downing
-
54

The Biden Administration rejected Alaska’s plan for road construction for the coming years and sent it back to the Department of Transportation, in what appears to be an attempt to hit at Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Alaska itself during an election year in which Biden already has a slim chance of winning the 49th state.

The Alaska State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) is the plan for how the state will use federal dollars between 2024 and 2027. The plan is the next generation of the 2020-2023 STIP, a document that is worked on for years and is worth at least $900 million in federal dollars each year. The current STIP ends March 31.

Every state submits a STIP document to the Federal Highway Administration that covers a period of work stretching four years. Alaska has never seen one rejected.

Sources say that that the Federal Highway Administration, under the Biden Administration, has a few midlevel activists who decided to throw a monkey wrench into Alaska’s STIP, forcing the state to redo some of its work. However, while they were empowered to reject projects that Alaska wants, such as roads, bridges, or ferry terminals, the federal agency made a number of mistakes during its rejection, so much so that the Biden Administration is now in panic mode, sending two people north to Alaska to straighten out the mess these activist federal employees made.

The mainstream media has endeavored to make this a “Dunleavy” problem, but Dunleavy’s Department of Transportation is staffed by people with decades of experience in developing the STIP.

But this year, the federal workers got picky. In one place in the STIP document, the State said it planned to build a road across the Susitna River. The federal government objected because the word “bridge” wasn’t included in the scope.

In another instance, the ferry terminal long planned for Cascade Point in Juneau has been approved in previous STIPs, but this time, the federal government didn’t like the project, which would support the most popular ferry route in Alaska, service by the M/V Hubbard. The feds said it is not a “transportation” project.

The feds told the Department of Transportation to redraft portions of the plan, but after the redraft, the agency would not respond to Alaska DOT about whether the plan was acceptable.

Then, the feds told the department to do a “soft submittal” so the feds could review it and look for any corrective measures that would need to be made. DOT complied and did the soft submittal, but got no answer from the Federal Highway Administration.

As the clock was running out on the deadline, DOT finally decided it was time to send in the formal document. That’s when the federal agency started nitpicking.

The Biden Administration objects to anything that has to do with potential development in Alaska, sources said.

54 COMMENTS

  1. build a highway out, lots of people leaving. two on my street after vowing to stay ten more years. take their SOA retirements with them

    • I wouldn’t be bragging about your old neighbors. Likely Their entire capital is tied up in the government. When the government goes there goes their hard earned retirement too. They move just to feel better for the little time we have left.

    • My wife and I are running the numbers regarding how long we can remain. A great deal depends on how badly the legislature screws us this year.

      • Yeah, but where do you go?
        What area does not have (or will not have within 10 years or so) a similar legislature?

  2. What what what?
    I thought the feds were just faceless technocrats without political bias just trying serve America and save democracy. At least, thats what I was told when Trump made moves (Schedule F) to burn out the
    ‘diverse’ human ticks that Obama embedded in the federal bureaucracy.

    Now I find out they are playing political games with red state highway money? Say it ain’t so.

  3. Oatmeal brains doesn’t have a clue what day it is, let alone make any decisions about what we do up here. One of his communist lackeys sabotaged this. After changing his diapers.

  4. There is wisdom in a multitude of counselors. Florida and Louisiana benefitted greatly by expertise in engineering. in a state this size it is crazy to think we shouldn’t have backup in our”design”. we don’t and can’t afford these teams to stand up in our pension system. also, BLM had surveyor support when it was crucial to build to the point we did and then we quit. They haven’t had the alacrity they used to have in the 70’s for a long time. our own oversight of our own projects has been damned remiss to date if we just look, if we can bear it, at “ARRC” for instance and it’s design strategies designed and built in a hurry in 1923 which we still “rely” on and worship, as it were. No. We need a tad if “help” and supervision possibly IF we are going to move “forward”.

  5. What does our lone congress woman have to say about this?? Or is this vengeful action something she and the DC Democrats support?

    • Rep. Peltola has made it quite clear she loves Biden and thinks of him as one of the smartest men she knows. Go figure……that’s been shared/posted several different times in several different locations. She represents the Party, NOT the State or populous.

  6. State leaderships Still need to learn how will they pay for their states bills when there is no federal government. that day is coming when there be no arguing no not picky bureaucrats cause the eve no money for these projects.

    Alaska communities Alaska’s DOT will have to build one day without Federal money.

  7. Cascade Point is a stupid, stupid, stupid idea.

    Auke Bay is easily accessible by the community. Cascade Point isn’t.

    • if you would take the time to consider the cost per vehicle mile to run the ferry, even more staggering during off peak usage, versus cost per vehicle mile for the road portion you might begin to understand. Then look at the fact that AMHS cannot staff their boats and that the Cascade run would effctively use 40% as many crew members to accomplish the same work you might begin to understand. Toss in the fact that Goldbelt will provide scalable bus service when we don’t even have that at Auke Bay and it makes even more sense. The only thing better will be a road all the way to Skagway. Then we won’t be held hostage by the barge monopoly.

      • I have taken the time and it’s still a stupid, stupid, stupid idea.

        If you trust any deal made by CBJ and Goldbelt, the person with an understanding deficit is you.

        We don’t need scalability in public transport at Auke Bay.

    • Agreed. Stretching the commute from the masses to Echo Grove is wasting resources and increasing risk to all involved, especially in the winter. Expect a lot more wrecks and an increase in the carbon footprint. Auke Bay makes more sense.

  8. Dunleavy does not understand you can’t redirect Federal $$$ from Anchorage to his areas of political support without documentation. Dunleavy leaves Federal $$ on the table simply because it does not benefit his minority benefactors

  11. I personally know of at least two dozen temp employees who accepted permanent positions here in the last year or so and are putting down roots. Nome, Bethel, Kotzebue, Homer, Wasilla.

  12. And that’s why the government destroys everything they touch.
    As many people have noted politicians couldn’t run a cool aid stand even if it was free.

  14. SD’s reporting on this topic is entirely out of step and misaligned with the actual source material that is publicly available. It’s clear to anyone who’s reviewed the federal process that the Dunleavy administration simply neglected to do its job and submit a thorough/workable plan that would effectively marshal the federal funds. This has nothing to do with a political vendetta or the Biden administration trying pick on Dunleavy. It has everything to do with basic administrative competence. Alaska has received federal highway funds for as long as it’s been a state. And Alaska governors from both parties have worked successfully with every presidential administration since Eisenhower. Dunleavy is the first to screw it up so badly that we may just lose the funds and forego nearly a billion dollars and quality infrastructure jobs. Way to go, Guv’ner

    • respectfully may I point out that during the GWBush regime FHWA reviews which are great quality reviews moved inexicably into Juneau itself instead of infrastructure rich Seattle’s regional hub. Thot is when infrastructure in AK became variable and absent. Look! around and see if it isn’t so. Holding in-house engineering class is not appealing nor in the budget. This is not Governor Dunleavey’s fault but I’d get more incisive about weekly director reports!

    • Suzanne wrote the AK DOT STIP is created by people with decades of experience. But suddenly they suck at it? More lies from the f***ing feds.
      The EPA said if Fairbanks didn’t get their air particulates down to the EPA’s unreasonable and made up ecoterrorist levels that the state would lose federal dollars. Looks like the nasty and criminal dems and the Obiden cartel are following through with their extortion. You seem like the type to enjoy extortion, Princess Cruise Jim.

      • The STIP “process” has been co-opted, therefore process tampered by leaving entire geographic areas out of the process at all. Having secretive, interagency, “stakeholder meeting where neighborhoods of Anchorage are represented by fake telephone tree callers from unaffected areas reciting oppositional points to the actual needs of ignored, damaged constituents in the areas year after year, decades after decades. Time for that to halt. Good call FHWA. Accidently doing something right. PRAISE TO GOD ALMIGHTY.

  17. The feds do not want Dunleavy helping foreign owned mining making them even richer at the expense of the general public, even though the foreigners donated money to the governors campaign.

    • Cheechako, so it’s better to just let those mineral stay-put? No extraction of valuable minerals means no high paying jobs for Alaskans, you are cool with that?
      Me thinks you are a Cheechako pretending to me a Sourdough.

    • No, no the feds don’t want mining, road building or any kind of improved infrastructure, as it interferes with their high priestess “climate change”, as well as their need to support foreign dictators by buying and importing their oil and gas, instead of producing at home.

  18. Meanwhile your congressional delegation is focused on WW3, Ukraine, Taiwan, middle east, the war machine, and not focusing all of their attention on Alaska. Seems to be what happens in DC, political games and BS forget about the people who put them there.

  22. The Dunleavy administration has refused to follow the law. A big reason the plan was rejected is because Dunleavy refused to get local input from regional government- who usually know what is needed better than Juneau.

    A major example is the funding to replace bridges (for many hundreds of millions of dollars, each) to subsidize an industrial ore hauling operation up the Richardson highway, through Fairbanks. Many locals do not want massive ore hauling trucks (that do not belong on public roads). Dunleavy doesn’t care want Delta, North Pole, or Fairbanks residents want. (All are on record opposing this idiotic, dangerous project.) Note these communities support mining. they want the ore processed on site. Turning our roads into 24/7/365 ore hauling routes is madness. Anyway, the locals were cut out by Dunleavy, and the feds were told that Dunleavy was refusing to follow the law- so the plan was rejected, in part, for the above refusal to follow the law.

  23. Retired after a 32 year career at ADOT, last Fall I asked my contacts about the West Susitna Access Road. Their response was we know nothing about the proposed project, Central Region ADOT was blindsided by the Governor’s office proposed multi million dollar project.
    Alaska has always enjoyed more than their fair share of Federal Highway funds. Many States do not have the revenues for the 10% match required to obtain Federal dollars. The Surplus dollars are up for grabs to other States who DO have the 10% match. Over the years Alaska had CLEANED up on surplus Federal Highway funds. ADOT has mastered bringing additional Federal Highway funds to the People of Alaska. Make no mistake no matter what is said, this debacle of not following the STIP rules is coming from the Governor’s office.
    As a supporter of the Governor I am deeply disappointed in this major screw up. This coupled with the endorsement of Dalhstrom makes you wonder if Dunlevy has a political future in Alaska.

    • Hi Joe, your statement ” Make no mistake no matter what is said, this debacle of not following the STIP rules is coming from the Governor’s office.” is spot on ! Suzanne is drinking the Commissioner Ryan Anderson’s Kool-Aid. After more then 49 years working AK Dot projects there is so much graft going on within Planning , Design & Construction in AK DOT it is insanely out of control. here is the link to the truth : ‘https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24427670-2024-2027-stip-fhwa-fta-joint-federal-planning-finding

      Suzanne please reveal your sources…..

  24. “Federal dollars”? Hey that’s a real knee-slapper. Thanks for the chuckle Suzanne! “Taxpayer” dollars, lest we forget. My only hope is AK DOT will finally stop spraying calcium chloride on our roads. We’re going broke on car repairs. But I digress. Thanks!

  25. Privatize it all. Contractors build our roads they are more than capable of maintaining them. I like accountability. If a contractor screws up we fire them if a government employee screws up we promote them. Enough already.

  26. Would appreciate it if the author of this story could inform us as to the source(s) of this story. From the sounds and looks of all the other media sources in this state, it is/was the State of Alaska DOT and their boss Dunleavy who should be held responsible for fixing this mess.

  28. I still remember Biden’s remarks about Dunleavy when he was up in Alaska giving a speech, when he said something (Obscured in the video) about the governor and then said he, Biden, would have been an All-American. That said about all I needed to know. Even if AK DOT was walking on water, it would not be enough.

  30. The words “midlevel activists” say it all. The entire system has been completely infiltrated with these “activists” intent on pushing the leftist Jarrett/Obama/Soros agenda. Look at the AG James/”Judge” Engoron fiasco in NY. Look at the Fani Willis circus in Atlanta. Look at the coverup surrounding everything Biden and son have done since 2010. Look at the Russia hoax. Look at the eight years of falsified anti-trump stories in the media. Look at the insidious DEI programs. And the anti-Israel BDS movement. And the corporate ESG initiatives. And so on, and so on.

    And that’s just what is high-priority enough to hit the news. This same sort of self-anointed resistor activism is happening at every level of business and government: use your position to do whatever you can to punish or screw with everyone who doesn’t toe the progressive line.

    It’s going to be a long hard struggle to try clean up this mess that we’ve all been watching in slow motion over the last 20 years – assuming we get the opportunity.

  31. Y’all are a fucking joke! You should be embarrassed of this drivel SD! Trying to blame Biden for this screwup from the Governor—y’all hate government corruption and overreach and yet here you are praising Dunleavy for violating the law to support mining interests and ignoring his constituents. Color me surprised! Almost as much as your complete silence on Trump praising Putin, declaring he’d abandon NATO allies, and the murder of Nalvany by Putin this week. You just can’t figure out how to dance around that one, eh? How to support the idiot Trump when you know he’s dead wrong on Russia. Hell, y’all aren’t even screaming about the border now that republicans turned down what they wanted.

    I wish you had the intestinal fortitude to publicly debate a regular Joe America. And your new partner is about to realize a significant to notice revenue drop for aligning with this drivel. Keep it up Mislead Alaska, keep up the marvelous grift.

  33. “The mainstream media has endeavored to make this a “Dunleavy” problem, but Dunleavy’s Department of Transportation is staffed by people with decades of experience in developing the STIP.”

    TO—MRAK, this in regard to experienced people: “We had a lot of new people”
    “Looking for answers, Rep. Louise Stutes, R-Kodiak, asked the commissioner at a House Transportation meeting if qualified staff worked on the plan. There the people that were formulating and putting the information together, were they experienced?

    Had they been involved in doing a STIP previously?” Stutes asked.

    Commissioner Ryan Anderson said many different partners worked on the plan, and not many had prior STIP experience.

    “I would hesitate to say [they were] not experienced in putting together the elements but a brand new STIP, yeah, we had a lot of new people,” Anderson said.

    ‘https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2024/02/17/56b-funding-limbo-after-feds-find-errors-statewide-transportation-plan/?outputType=amp

  34. Oh this is BS. Dunlevy is padding his future campaign coffers using public money to buy favors from deep pocket donors and Ryan Anderson is the useful idiot going along with it.

  35. Does this also include not upgrading the two bridges that are deemed in bad shape between Tok and Delta Junction? The Gerstle and Johnson are about to be pummeled by Trucks-trucking ore in oversized (length) and overweight trucks -more
    Than these two bridges and at least one in Fairbanks -because the state invested in Contango-which is part of the Kinross Manh Choh mine
    In Tetlin

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