State on track to begin first part of West-Su Access Road next year

What you need to know:

• State transportation officials plan to begin construction next year on the first 17 miles of the West Susitna Access Road. Work on a bridge over the Susitna River could begin in winter 2028, followed by construction of the final 5-mile stretch in 2029.
• The $215.4 million road and bridge project would be funded primarily with federal transportation money, requiring a $21.5 million state match. A separate 78-mile industrial haul road serving potential mining projects would be financed through revenue bonds.
• Critics question the project's rising costs, potential environmental impacts and uncertain connection to future mines.
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State transportation crews are on track to begin work next year on the first 17 miles of the West Susitna Access Road, officials said.

The stretch is designed to lead from the West Susitna Parkway in Big Lake to a planned bridge over the Susitna River and toward Skwetna.

The mostly federally funded, 22-mile project is slated to link up with a related but separately funded 78-mile industrial haul road leading to mining projects southeast of Rainy Pass.

Work on the $104.4 million bridge could start as soon as the winter of 2028, depending on the results of a riverbed ground support testing process known as “geotechnical drilling,” state transportation officials said.

Officials completed a similar process on dry land near the site this year.

“The current geotechnical has been completed at four primary Susitna River pier locations, but the remaining in-river pier investigations are scheduled for the May 15-July 15, 2027 in-water window,” state Department of Transportation spokesperson Jessica Bowers said in an email. “The remaining drilling program is expected to take another four to five months.”

Construction on the final 5-mile stretch of the initial road, from the bridge to Alexander Creek, could start in 2029, according to a schedule provided by state officials.

All told, the 22-mile project is expected to cost $215.4 million and would be funded as part of the regular federal surface transportation program that finances state highways, bridges and the ferry system.

The state must provide a 10% match for the federal money, so the state share of the initial section of the West Susitna Access Road and bridge will be $21.5 million.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a strong supporter of the project, is expected to approve the plan requesting federal funding before he leaves office in December. The money is part of the regular Statewide Transportation Improvement Program, or STIP, which guides federal funding for Alaska surface transportation projects.

The related but separately funded 78-mile road to the mining areas, where companies are exploring gold, antimony and coal deposits, would be owned by the state’s development finance corporation, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, known as AIDEA. The road would be funded through revenue bonds.

Bonds are typically not sold until contracts are signed with mining companies to use the road to truck ore, a step that is unlikely until mines are built, which will be years away.

Environmental watchdogs remain worried about both projects because of potential environmental harm, noise and the impacts of trucking ore.

Public support is thin for a recreation road with a price tag of more than $200 million that may or may not ultimately link with a second stretch to the mining operations, said Melis Coady, executive director of the Susitna River Coalition, whose members include wilderness lodge operators and local residents.

Coady said coalition members are also concerned about cost increases. Earlier estimates for the bridge were much lower than the $104 million now estimated, she said.

“We're deeply concerned about the financial and environmental consequences of dividing this corridor into separate projects, each reviewed and funded in pieces,” she said in a statement. “The price tag keeps growing, the endpoints keep moving, and somehow the project keeps advancing through the funding process.”

State legislators are watching the project, too. State Sen. Löki Tobin, D-Anch., who sits on the Senate Transportation Committee, said in an interview that the $215 million needed for the project could instead be spent building and repairing roads elsewhere in the state. She said legislators may also scrutinize the state money needed for the required match, potentially leaving the project short of funding.

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