"A summer ferry is definitely on the table. It will be part of our study for the Yukon River highway," said Mike McKinnon, senior planner with the state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, who is in charge of the state's Northwest Alaska Transportation Study.

Meanwhile, on the North Slope, a new road from the Dalton Highway west to the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska has been redesigned to follow a more southerly route that would give oil and gas companies greater year-around surface access to the northern foothills of the Brooks Range, which they believe has promise for new petroleum discoveries.

All of the rural road plans are in very early stages of discussion, and how to pay for them is an issue that has yet to be addressed. A road to NPR-A from the Dalton Highway, for example, could cost between $400 million and $500 million.

There is no cost estimate for the Yukon River highway, McKinnon said. The state has provided an outline for a feasibility study to Tanana Chiefs Conference, of Fairbanks.

Tanana Chiefs, a nonprofit regional Alaska Native organization for the Interior, may take the lead in doing the feasibility study, McKinnon said. Preliminary cost estimates would come out such a study, he said.

Meanwhile, DOTPF is reviewing a 1973 study by Lyons Engineering Inc. and a 1981 study by Louis Berger & Associates, two consulting firms which looked at possible summer vehicle ferry operations on the middle Yukon River as well as a summer ferry on the upper Yukon.

What had been discussed previously in the state's long-term study was a continuous highway along the Yukon, at first linking communities on the river with eventual links to Fairbanks and Nome, on the Seward Peninsula.

A less-costly alternative has been put forward to build segments of road connecting some Yukon River communities augmented with a summer river ferry service along stretches of the river.

The latest concepts being discussed with communities along the Yukon River involve a 40-mile extension of the Elliott Highway to Tanana from Manley Hot Springs, west of Fairbanks, where the Elliot now ends.

Between Tanana and Galena, approximately a 100-mile distance, a river ferry could operate during the five months when the Yukon is typically open to navigation. After freezeup, ice on the river is strong enough to support vehicles, and it becomes a winter highway.

The ferry could be continued another 40 miles to the village of Nulato and another 40 miles to Kaltag, both downriver. Alternatively, a road could be built to connect the communities.

Terry Brady, an Anchorage-based consultant who worked on the 1973 Lyons study, said the plan focused on a low-cost approach to a ferry operation. Instead of permanent docks on the river bank, which would be vulnerable to yearly erosion, Brady designed a low-tech solution for a ramp to be lowered on the existing bank, similar to the way steamboats operated on the Yukon years ago.

As for the link to Nome, DOTPF is now focusing on a direct 150-mile road route to the Seward Peninsula from Nulato, across the Nulato Hills, as a possible shorter alternative to the Seward Peninsula rather than a longer route via Kaltag, Unalakleet, Shaktoolik and around the Norton Sound coast to Nome.

"This would appear to be more attractive only because it is shorter, but we really don't know enough about the terrain and soils through the Nulato Hills to know whether it is really feasible," said McKinnon.

For the lower Yukon, the agency has let a contract to CH2M Hill Co., Inc. to do a study for a regional port that could handle fuel and other cargo brought in by deep-draft ocean barges.

One possible port location is at "Railroad City," a historic riverboat landing site on the lower Yukon. A short wooden-cog rail line operated there in the years after the Gold Rush. Another port site being considered is Ruby, 270 miles up the river.

The river is deep and wide enough at both locations to handle "mainline" ocean barges, which draw up to 18 feet of water, McKinnon said. Fuel and supplies are now brought into the area with smaller barges, which are more costly.

Brady, who is familiar with the lower Yukon, said the only problem with tug and barge access to the Yukon is at the river's mouth, where the channels are poorly charted and changeable because of siltation.

A subsequent link from a lower Yukon regional port and local intervillage roads to the Kuskokwim River is envisioned along two routes, he said.

If a port is built at Railroad City, a 70-mile road could be built from there to Donlin Creek, near the Kuskokwim River, where mining companies are working to develop a major gold mine.

Money for engineering and environmental work for a 15-mile road from the mine site at Donlin Creek to Crooked Creek, on the Kuskokwim, was part of a state transportation bond package approved by voters Nov. 5.

From Donlin Creek, a road could be built to existing roads in the Iditarod mining district, where some gold mining continues, with a further connection to existing roads near Ophir. These connections would require about 60 to 70 miles of new road construction.

A link to Ophir would also provide access to McGrath, which is on the upper Kuskokwim.

An alternative route from the Yukon would be a road built from Ruby, on the Yukon, along an existing road part of the way to Ophir. This would require about 54 miles of new road to the connection with existing roads at Ophir. If that route were chosen, a link to Iditarod and Donlin Creek from Ophir could also be built.

A link between the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers has long been thought of, Brady said. At one point on the lower Yukon the two rivers are about 40 miles apart, he said. Because of the marshy terrain it's possible to canoe between the two drainages with only short portages, Brady said.

Many years ago a canal was envisioned between the two rivers, which would make it possible for boats to enter the Kuskokwim and reach the Yukon through the canal, he said. The idea was not pursued, however.

On the North Slope, local residents are supportive of road west to the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and the village of Nuiqsut but the first choice is a 20-mile connection with existing oil field roads in the Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk oil fields, according to Rex Okakok, planning director for the North Slope Borough.

A longer road from the Dalton Highway through the foothills is viewed less favorably, although it is recognized that route would enhance exploration of gas on lands owned by the state and Arctic Slope Regional Corp., Okakok said.

"We've been working with Nuiqsut for the last year years on road access, and the majority of people there are strongly in support of it so that the costs of bringing in supplies and fuel can be lowered," he said.

But there are also worries that the road will cut across migration routes for caribou, a source of subsistence food for the village, Okakok said.

McKinnon said the state will meet with the borough's Planning and Zoning Commission on Jan. 30 to present the latest options for a new road on the slope.

One option will be to designate a new road for industrial-use only, which would block its use by sports hunters from outside the region. To do this, however, no public funds can be used for its construction. The only alternative for financing is oil and gas companies who want to use it.

Even then, enforcing the industrial-use restriction will be difficult, expensive and possibly ineffective, and this concerns North Slope Borough officials.

When the Dalton Highway was first built in 1974 to support construction of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline through 1977, public use was restricted because of safety concerns. Alyeska and the state didn't want tourists or hunters on the road while it was being heavily used by construction contractors.

A security checkpost at the Yukon River bridge maintained by Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., the pipeline operator, stopped tourists and other casual travelers.

After the pipeline was completed in 1977 the industrial-only restriction continued, but because the highway was owned and maintained by the state, Alyeska turned the security checkpoint over to the state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.

Sports hunting groups complained about the restrictions and over several years, funding cuts restricted the hours DOTPF could maintain the checkpoint. Tourists and hunters routinely drove past it. Eventually the state Legislature passed a law to officially open the Dalton Highway to the public.