South Denali project moves to starting line

PALMER — It’s a project 40 years in the making, but officials with the Mat-Su Borough and the National Park Service say for a planned South Denali Visitor Center and related improvements, an end is in sight.

Miriam Valentine of the Denali National Park and Preserve said for this go-round of development everyone in state, local and federal government seems to be on the same page.

“We have great agreement among the agencies … that this is the right approach to take in relation to south Denali development,” Valentine said. “I also think that we have a great support from a wide range of stakeholders in the project, which we haven’t had in the past.”

The visitors’ center, slated for a spot within Denali State Park at the end of a 3.5-mile yet-to-be-built access road on a ridge with views of the mountain, is just one of a long list of components for the project, Valentine said. Crews will also be improving, marking and sometimes creating trails. They’ll also build a contact point and embarkation center along the Parks Highway.

In the end, what’s planned is a Denali experience available to visitors and residents of South Central Alaska they can have, when setting off from Anchorage, in a day.

“If people can do Denali in a day, and yet they have five days in an itinerary, they can really be creative,” Valentine said.

She sees impacts for the new Anchorage Convention Center, as the Denali destination would likely draw in conventioneers. And it will boost local businesses, from flight-seeing operations to rafting entrepreneurs. Overall, the project will probably cost $36 million, Valentine said, adding the NPS is looking at multiple funding sources.

The piece that would potentially start the whole ball rolling is $8.9 million in state funding to build the access road, she said. Once that’s in place, the project will move in stages. As one phase is being built, the next is planned.

John Duffy, manager for the Mat-Su Borough, said the project is “fairly significant” for locals. Duffy said it looks like the project could potentially create 400 jobs for the Borough.

In addition to creating more jobs, the South Denali Visitor Center could be a year-round attraction, giving the Borough a tourist destination in the winter months as well as summer opportunities. A specific timeline of construction or development of the center hasn’t yet been established.

In the grand scheme, during the winter a person could conceivably set out from Anchorage, put a snowmachine on a planned Anchorage-Port MacKenzie ferry, then hop on the trails right there at the port for a trip all the way up to the park, Duffy said.

“How hot is that?” he said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiers-man.com or 352-2270.