Valley senators address DOT commissioner-designee

The Legislature is still in slow gear, waiting for the state House to organize itself and for Gov. Mike Dunleavy to introduce his new state budget. The new budget will be introduced Feb. 13 and is expected to have draconian budget cuts

Lawmakers meanwhile are busy with agency briefings on state programs, which are useful for newly-elected legislators, and with confirmation hearings of new commissioners named by the governor.

Typically confirmation hearings present an opportunity for legislators to press their priorities with new cabinet members and a hearing for John MacKinnon, the commissioner-designee for the Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, provided a chance for three Mat-Su state senators to press MacKinnon on road and access issues affecting the region.

MacKinnon was before the Senate Transportation Committee, chaired by Sen. Shelly Hughes, R-Mat-Su. Senators David Wilson and Mike Shower, also Mat-Su Republicans, are on the committee with Hughes.

Confirmation by the Legislature is a virtual shoo-in for MacKinnon. He is well-regarded as a former deputy commissioner of the DOTPF and for years has headed the Associated General Contractors-Alaska, the construction industry trade organization.

Right of the bat, however, Wilson told MacKinnon in the hearing that Mat-Su legislators felt the region had been neglected by the prior administration, and highways are critically important.

The slow pace of the Knik-Goose Bay road upgrade is one sore point. “There are 19,000 people who live along the KGB road,” Hughes said. “That’s two-thirds of the population of Juneau,” being served by a narrow road that needs widening.

“I would appreciate your attention to this,” she said.

MacKinnon said he is aware of problems but that the KGB road is now the top priority for DOTPF’s central division, which includes Mat-Su. He also said next phase of widening of the Parks Highway, another vital link, and has become a source of complaints.

“Both of these (the KGB and Parks) are difficult projects mainly because they disrupt access by residents and businesses. When we do the improvement there is a frontage road, and people are used to having direct access. That’s the crux of the problem,” MacKinnon said.

The KGB road project is big ¬– in the range of $100 million in cost – and DOTPF may split the project into two smaller packages to induce competition, allowing more companies to bid, and hopefully getting better prices.

Shower asked if the DOTPF is working on a plan for alternative access to Anchorage from MatSu, with last year’s shutdown of the Glenn Highway due to a damaged bridge fresh in people’ mind.

MacKinnon said the Legislature had asked for an alternative-route analysis from DOTPF and that was recently completed. “If there is another incident (like the bridge) we can handle it but the volume of traffic is the killer. There are 40,000 to 50,000 cars a day on the Glenn,” he said.

There are no easy solutions.

Shower also questioned MacKinnon about the Port of Alaska (formerly Port of Anchorage), where repairs are now estimated at $2 billion. MacKinnon said the port is owned by the Municipality of Anchorage, which is now wrestling with where to find the money.

“I wish we could be involved, but it’s owned by the municipality and they tend to be a little possessive,” MacKinnon said.

“However, I am on the board of the Alaska Railroad and I can tell you we are very concerned about the condition of the port. I can imagine another shaker (like the recent earthquake) could put the port out of commission,” for an extended period.

Quick repairs would not be possible. “It wouldn’t be a matter of just placing dirt in a hole,” like DOTPF and contractors were able to do at Vine Road in Mat-Su and the Minnesota Drive off-ramp in Anchorage, where service was quickly restored after the Nov. 30 quake. “This would take structural repairs,” a major undertaking.

Hughes said the bulk of consumer goods like groceries come through the Port of Alaska, so the matter is of some concern. “I’ve been told we basically have a 70-day supply of food on hand,” she said, so any potential shipping disruption is a worry.

MacKinnon said there are ways Southcentral Alaska could be supplied if the port were out of service. Freight could be landed at ports in Seward and Whittier and moved by rail to Anchorage. Truck service up the Alaska Highway could be ramped up, along with a big increase in air cargo. “These things won’t be cheap, though,” he warned.

The added costs would be reflected in the cost of consumer goods including groceries.