By James MacPherson
Journal Reporter

The Sierra Club has chosen the controversial $28 million rail depot under construction at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport as one of the country's best transportation projects.

A report issued July 30 by the San Francisco-based environmental group report called the new $44 million interchange linking the Glenn and Parks highways in the Matanuska-Susitna valley as one of the worst.

Sierra Club members reviewed 49 projects in the United States on how air quality was affected; whether they provided adequate transportation alternatives; and if they would cause sprawl by opening up economic development away from existing communities.

The projects ranged from small, community-based initiatives to large-scale, multibillion-dollar highway construction.

Only 20 of the projects were what the Sierra Club called "smart" transportation choices, mainly light-rail and other mass transit projects aimed at taking cars off the road. The remaining 29 were listed by as "wrong way" projects, like a a new $4 billion beltway in Houston the enviromental group said would destroy some of the last remaining wetlands and trees near the city.

The railroad depot going up at Anchorage International was one of several rail solutions in the United States that the Sierra Club said was environmentally friendly.

"The project would protect wetlands near the airport from being paved over for parking lots, reduce traffic and air pollution, and provide public-transit access to the 10,000 jobs at the airport, which could help those making the transition from welfare to work," the Sierra Club said in its report.

Cynthia Wentworth, a Sierra Club representative in Anchorage, said the rail depot also provides a more efficient way to move tourists directly to and from the airport.

Johne Binkley, Alaska Railroad Corp.'s chairman of the board, said he was "thrilled and excited" that the project received the recognition from the world's leading environmental group.

A 1999 federal appropriation for the rail depot came on the heels of the ongoing $230 million upgrade for the Anchorage airport, named for Alaska's senior senator.

Binkley gave credit for the depot to former Alaska governor Bill Sheffield, who was president of the railroad until last year.

"He is a visionary," Binkley said of Sheffield.

For his part, Sheffield said his intent in pursuing the rail depot came from improving passenger service and getting busses off the road.

"It all came together, even in my lifetime," Sheffield said, admiring the construction at the depot July 30. "I thought I might not ever see something like this."

Not everyone is enamored with the depot. Several people claimed the public and state lawmakers had very little say in the project.

"It doesn't make any sense, and it's a poor use of public money," said state Rep. Andrew Halcro, R-Anchorage, one of the depot's strongest critics.

"There will be very little ridership," Halcro said. "I think it will be mothballed in five years and give another reason to people to criticize the government's waste of money."

Initially, the railroad only projects about 30,000 tourists riding the train during the summer months between the airport and Seward, where several cruise trips start or end, said Pat Flynn, railroad spokesman in Anchorage.

The Sierra Club says the depot could be combined with commuter rail service to Palmer and Wasilla, at a cost of $28 million, far less than what it's costing to build an interchange at the intersection of the Glenn and Parks highways.

The environmental group in its recent report said the interchange is a "wrong way" project and "will destroy habitat used by moose, birds and other wildlife, as well as wetlands that constitute some of the most productive habitat for silver salmon in the state."

Transportation officials say the work that is under way and slated for completion in 2004 will allow a free flow of traffic between Anchorage and Wasilla, as well as improved flow between Anchorage and Palmer and between Palmer and Wasilla.

Sierra Club's Wentworth said a commuter rail is a far better alternative to traffic congestion.

Her opinion, and the Sierra Club's, are not shared by most commuters who drive Alaska's busiest stretch of highway daily.

A $250,000 commuter rail study commissioned by the Alaska Railroad last year found that an overwhelming majority of people -- as high as 97 percent -- would rather drive the 50-mile commute alone than to take a speedy, punctual, schedule-flexible and less-expensive train.