Stretching ninety miles along Alaska’s Inside Passage, the Lynn Canal is North America’s deepest fjord. It’s waters were the lifeblood of the Klondike Gold Rush, and now offer a window into the wild that defines Alaska. The Lynn Canal also ties the people of Alaska’s “Southeast” together. It is their highway. (more…)
50-mile road designated a ‘mega-project’; cost estimate from highway agency at $491 million
By Pat Forgey | JUNEAU EMPIRE
New cost estimates boosting the Juneau Access Project to half a billion dollars has moved the road into the realm of “mega-projects,” a designation bringing with it new federal regulations.
A Federal Highway analysis of the 50.8 mile road up the east side of Lynn Canal is estimated to cost $491 million to complete, according to a Federal Highway Administration agency. So far $25 million has been spent. (more…)
The Governor of Alaska has asked Congress for nearly $300 million dollars to build the Juneau Access Road. This costly and controversial project would require removal of miles of pristine coastline along the Inside Passage’s Lynn Canal, the longest and deepest fjord in North America. Taxpayers for Commonsense, in its report, Roads to Ruin, call this road one of the “biggest transportation boondoggles in the country”. (more…)
Blue Highway begins as a film about a kayak trip tracing the historic Lynn Canal travels of John Muir, but becomes a study of both sides of the battle over the proposed Juneau access road. After more than three decades of debate, is there anything left to say, and can two sides separated by environmental, economic and cultural concerns ever come together? Read more