Rep. McCabe, 13 other lawmakers want Legislature on record supporting Mat-Su, northern rail extensions

Mat-Su’s Rep. Kevin McCabe, R-Big Lake, wants the state Legislature on record supporting two key extensions of the Alaska Railroad important for economic development and national security.

McCabe is joined by 13 other members of the state House in sponsoring House Joint Resolution 14, introduced March 11 but up for consideration this week in two hearings planned in the House Transportation Committee. The committee held one hearing previously on HJR 14, on April 22 and April 24.

While legislative resolutions don’t have the force of law they are important expressions of intent by the Legislature and helpful to the state’s Congressional delegation in Washington, D.C. in efforts to secure federal infrastructure funds.

One proposal, familiar in the Mat-Su, is for completion of the partly-built Port MacKenzie rail extension to connect the port with the Alaska Railroad’s main line at Houston. The second proposal is to complete the Northern rail extension from Fairbanks east to Delta and the national defense missile interceptor installation at Fort Greely, near Delta.

As with the Port MacKenzie rail the northern extension is partly built, mainly with a bridge across the Tanana River near Salcha, east of Fairbanks. The bridge is now built. It is a key part of the plan for the rail to Delta but the U.S. Army now uses the bridge to move soldiers an equipment from fort Wainwright, at Fairbanks, to Army training grounds south of the Tanana River.

“The Port MacKenzie Rail Extension is a cornerstone of Alaska’s long-term economic and logistical strategy. By providing a direct rail link between Interior Alaska and tidewater access at Port MacKenzie, Whittier, Seward and Anchorage, this extension will reduce transportation costs, improve energy security and enhance market access for industries such as mining, agriculture and natural gas,” McCabe told the House committee in introducing the resolution.

A Port MacKenzie rail link will also increase the resiliency of the system by providing an alternate transportation corridor in case of highway disruptions caused by natural disasters, McCabe said.

The northern extension of rail to Delta and Fort Greely will provide a reliable, cost-effective means of transporting equipment and personnel to the Army post, which is the nation’s major missile defense installation but is the state’s only military installation without rail access.

Both rail links are partly built. The Northern Rail Extension with its bridge across the Tanana River has brought rails to within 70 miles of Delta and Fort Greely. The Alaska Railroad continued environmental work on the 70-mile remaining rail corridor but there was not support from the U.S Defense Department to do construction.

Similarly, the Mananuska-Susitna Borough and the Alaska Railroad have completed nearly two-thirds of the Port MacKenzie extension. The state of Alaska had supported the work with capital appropriations up until a crash in crude oil prices sent state revenues into a sharp slump. That resulted in a stop to state support, which has not resumed.

Mat-Su Borough officials have weighed in with strong support for HJR 14. “Expanding rail infrastructure can significantly reduce transportation costs and improve the efficiency of shipping bulk commodities and materials to and from Interior Alaska. This will bolster our state’s logistics network and stimulate economic growth,” Mat-Su Mayor Edna DeVries and borough manager Mike Brown said in a letter to legislators supporting the resolution.