The Juneau Road extension is too damaging, too divisive, and way too expensive.  Recently elected Governor Bill Walker campaigned on a promise of reigning in state spending.  We need taxpayers around the state – and the nation – to support Governor Walker in saying no to the Juneau Road Extension.

One of Alaska’s most ridiculous and expensive “roads to nowhere”, the Juneau Road would be a nightmare for safety and the environment. What's more, current proposed taxpayer funding would only get the road as far as the privately-owned Kensington Mine, which we think smells pretty fishy! 

Top 4 Reasons to Oppose the Road:

The costs far exceed the benefits.

The 50 mile road is estimated to cost $574 million to construct.  What’s worse, the maintenance and operating cost for the road scenario are higher than running the existing ferry system between communities.  DOT’s own numbers that the benefits don’t out weigh the enormous expense.  Standard practice is to dismiss a project with a benefit cost ratio of less than 1.  DOT’s own numbers put the benefit cost ratio for the proposed road at a startelingly low 0.28. Alaska is in the middle of a revenue crisis and every dollar spent on this big-government boondoggle is a dollar not spent on the state's schools or communities.

It still won't connect Juneau to the road system.

Ferry service will still be necessary, even if this road is built. In a land of steep, glaciated mountains and mist-covered islands, Southeast Alaska’s rural communities depend on the Alaska Marine Highway ferry service. The Juneau Road would steal funding needed to update the fleet, while shifting the region toward a virtually unmaintainable system of roads that still require inter-island ferry service. A viable alternative already exists.

It’s not safe.

The proposed route crosses over 40 avalanche paths and a hundred rock fall and land slide zones. At least 15 deaths are predicted to occur on this road in the next 30 years.  For comparison, no deaths have occurred in the 50+ years of ferry service along the same route.

It would harm Southeast Alaska’s iconic coastline.

The road would cut through the gorgeous and productive ecosystems that Southeast Alaska is known for, jeopardizing the region’s economic strongholds of fishing and tourism. Not only would critical habitat for mountain goats and sea lions be destroyed, but essential salmon habitat would be dredged for the road’s numerous bridges.