March 02, 2008
Sunday

(SitNews) - The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (DOT&PF) on Friday approved Let's Get Moving 2030, Alaska's new Statewide Long-Range Transportation Policy Plan.
 
The document was signed by Commissioner Leo von Scheben, following public review and comment on the draft plan. It was available for public review from Nov. 23, 2007 to Feb. 1, 2008. DOT&PF received more than 100 public comments on the plan.
 
The plan establishes state transportation vision and policy direction to guide statewide transportation planning and development through the year 2030.
 
 "Alaska's economic and social wellbeing depends on a modern, efficient, and reliable transportation system," said DOT&PF Commissioner Leo von Scheben. "This plan will be used as a framework to set priorities and guide our work to ensure that Alaskans continue to enjoy the benefits of mobility."
 
Let's Get Moving 2030 is designed to help analyze the costs associated with the state's transportation infrastructure. It creates a tool to measure improvements of management practices and determines if additional funds are necessary to maintain existing facilities. The plan also sets system development priorities and the best use of limited project funding.
 
The plan recommends several strategies to address the identified gap between documented needs and available funding. The strategies include:

Prioritize Needs ­ steps to prioritize among needs
Manage for Results ­ steps to increase efficiency
Constrain Needs ­ steps to limit the total transportation need placed upon State of Alaska
Increase Revenues ­ steps to increase funds available for meeting transportation needs

In the plan, ADOT&PF states the agency is responsible for most of the roads and bridges in the state, barring some local roads and Community Transportation Program roads. There are about 14,800 lane miles of state-owned roads and about 1.000 state-owned bridges. Although Alaska is the largest state in terms of area, it has the fifth-lowest road mileage in the nation. The primary reason cited by ADOT&PF for this is that most people live in the urbanized areas; and that extreme weather, rugged terrain, vast distances, low population density and scattered islands make road construction difficult and very costly compared to the number of users.

The plan also states that the Alaska Marine Highway System is a critical part of Alaska's transportation system and the service it provides is part of the National Highway System. For many communities in coastal Alaska, ferry service is their highway, providing connections to other communities and beyond.

The final plan states that the Alaska Marine Highway System carries approximately 300,00 passengers and 100,000 vehicles every year.

According to the final plan, highway and bridges system development needs for Alaska total $550 million yearly. The system development needs through 2030 are identified by consolidating project needs identified in all regional plans, metropolitan plans, and the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program. These needs, when restricted to projects identified in existing plans, total over $12 billion translating to at least $550 million per year. Highways and bridges routing maintenance needs are projected at $104 million per year.

Let's Get Moving 2030 supersedes Vision: 2020 Update, completed in November 2002. The statewide transportation policy plan is normally updated at 5-year intervals.

On the Web:

The main document providing detailed information and the appendices can be downloaded from the Alaska DOT & PF website:
http://dot.alaska.gov/2030

Response of Comments on the Public Review Draft Plan - February 2008
http://dot.alaska.gov/stwdplng/areaplans/lrtpp/documents/SWLRTPP
finalcommentdisposition022908.pdf

Source:

Alaska Department of Transportation & PF
Let's Get Moving 2030

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