By Tim Bradner
Alaska Journal of Commerce

Alaskans have talked about a road to Nome for decades and now state transportation planners are taking a new look, with updated information.

"It has been 25 years since anyone looked seriously at it, and a lot has changed. People keep asking whether it can be done, and what the benefits are," said Jerry Rafson, northern region planning director for the state Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.

With the new information, "we'll be able to get a little more deeply into it, to see if this is something the state might want to pursue." As strategic new infrastructure it would be a mega project, such as the proposed Knik Arm crossing or Susitna hydro project, he said.

The state will also consider whether it can be done in stages, one segment at a time, Rafson said.

DOWL-HKM is now putting the finishing touches on the new reconnaissance study and will meet with state transportation officials in early September to present two basic route alternatives. Tom Middendorf, the company's transportation planning director, presented the information during an Aug. 27 briefing to a regional transportation study group of the Institute of the North, an Anchorage-based nonprofit policy group.

The Institute is supporting DOTPF's initiative as part of a study of large new infrastructure projects that could strengthen the state's economy by linking communities and areas with natural resources, according to Nils Andreassen, its director.

At the time of the briefing, three alternatives were still on the table, but the options will be narrowed by the time the presentation will be made to DOTPF, Middendorf said.

When that happens, Northern Economics, an Anchorage-based economic consulting company, will begin a cost-benefits analysis of the project and the two alternative routes. A survey of minerals potential in the region was performed byconsulting geologist Chuck Hawley, a mining exploration contractor, as a part of the study, Middendorf said.

One route alternative is a 713-mile "northern" route starting at the Dalton Highway north of the Yukon River and running west past Bettles and then southwest to the Seward Peninsula and a connection with existing roads at Council, northeast of Nome. This corridor has an advantage in being close to the Ambler mining district where there are numerous minerals deposits, Middendorf said.

Since it starts north of the Yukon River no costly bridge would be needed, and it mostly follows a route that avoids hilly terrain, thus lowering construction costs, which would still total $3.1 billion.

Middendorf said that a road would improve access for exploration in the Ambler mining area, but that if a base metals mine were developed, such as a copper mine, a railroad would probably be more economical as a way to move bulk quantities of minerals rather than a road. Gold mines, on the other hand, could ship their production over a highway.

Major disadvantages of the northern route are that this corridor does not come close to the scattered small communities in the region, although connecting roads could be built. Also it would cross a strip of federal land connecting two national conservation land units, the Koyukuk and Selawik national wildlife refuges. While there are no lands with wilderness designations, getting federal government permission for a road corridor is a challenge.

A second corridor is further south and runs along a corridor a few miles north of the Yukon. This route would ease access to communities along the river, although short connecting roads would be needed, and it has two alternative eastern segments, one that starts at the Dalton Highway north of the Yukon, again avoiding a major bridge at the river. Like the northern route, this corridor would end at Council with a connection to an existing road.

An alternative with this route is starting the road at Manley Hot Springs west of Fairbanks where the Elliot Highway ends, but this would require a bridge across the Yukon near Tanana. The mileage is different with the two eastern-end alternatives, and range from 666 miles to 709 miles.

Costs would range between $4.6 billion and $5.3 billion depending on which alternative on the eastern end is used. This corridor would also improve access to areas with minerals potential but not as much as the northern route, Middendorf said.

One of the middle route alternatives would be more expensive because it would cross more hilly terrain. On the other hand the hills are more scenic, which would be better for tourism.

A third option the DOWL-HKM group considered is a 742-mile "southern" route that begins near Nenana, on the Parks Highway, runs northwest toward Manley Hot Springs and then southwest to the mid-Kuskokwim River region and Poorman, an area with many minerals deposits. The road would then run west toward Kaltag, where a Yukon crossing would be needed, and then west and north to Koyuk, near the Seward Peninsula, and west to a connection with existing roads at Council.

This route, which would cost $5 billion, does not reach as many communities as the middle route but it would provide access to mineralized areas. The large Donlin Creek gold mine now being planned is in this region.

The Denali Borough has also done work, along with the state, on a variation of the southern route, at least on the eastern end. This is the so-called Denali North Access, which would run west from the Healy area along the northern foothills of the Alaska Range, and would open up an alternative route to an existing Denali National Park road into the park. The national park service has not been supportive of additional access route into the park, however.

DOWL-HKM relied mostly on basic terrain data for its reconnaissance although there is some soils data available from earlier work done by the state Department of Natural Resources and other agencies, Middendorf said.

Earlier studies done for a Nome road were reviewed in a first phase of DOWL-HKM's work, said Jessica Semmler, a planner who is working with Middendorf on the project. The company reviewed 80 previous studies including river ports and airports as well as roads, dating to as early as 1959, Semmler said.

This included a 1973 study that considered a combination of short road segments with a river ferry system along the Yukon that would carry vehicles in ferries during summer with a winter ice road during winter.

Tim Bradner can be reched at

tim.bradner@alaskajournal.com.