Borough streets named after congressman

MAT-SU -- Two roads and a railway corridor yet to be built now bear the name of Alaska Congressman Don Young and his wife Lu, an honor bestowed last week by the Mat-Su Borough and a first for the congressman, who just entered his 30th year of representation.

At a luncheon at the Alaska Job Corps, Borough Mayor Tim Anderson presented Young with a plaque of appreciation for his ongoing support of borough projects. He also informed the representative that the transportation corridor being planned to link the northern portion of the borough to Port MacKenzie will be dubbed the Don Young Transportation Corridor, and presented him with two street signs bearing the Young name. The first, Don Young Road, leads directly to the port and is scheduled to be paved this summer. Lu Young Lane runs parallel to that road, and also provides access to port land.

"Congressman Young is a visionary," Anderson said. "… Because of his hard work, we've had many projects completed."

Young joked that he'd once received an offer to have a septic facility named after him -- an offer he said he respectfully declined.

After the luncheon, Borough Manager John Duffy told local members of the press that Young had been instrumental in obtaining the initial $6.7 million in funding in 1999 that got the port project off the ground and funded the construction of the dock. Since that time, Young and U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens have secured about $20 million in funding for projects relating directly to the port. Along with an increase in federal funding for port-related projects, the Alaska Congressional delegation has, in the last two years, Duffy said, brought back more than $25 million in overall federal funding -- not related to federal highway projects, Duffy said, of which the borough also receives a considerable share.

Young, in a press conference after the luncheon, said he's glad to support the borough's attempts to build for the future.

"When the borough first came back [to Washington D.C.] and suggested it to me, it was a good idea -- it was sort of a dream," Young said of the port project, "and I like people with dreams."