More than 300 people turned out for community information meetings at Big Lake, Willow, Wasilla, Knik and Houston in late September and early October to ask questions and voice concerns about the proposed project.

Additional meetings are scheduled Oct. 24 with the Willow Dog Mushers Association and Oct. 25 with the Houston City Council.

A project team representing the Alaska Railroad Corp. and Mat-Su Borough is putting together a summary of those comments to present to the borough's planning commission on Nov. 5 and the borough assembly on Nov. 20, borough spokeswoman Patty Sullivan said Oct. 11.

The ultimate decision on whether to proceed will lie with the federal Surface Transportation Board, which would be required under the National Environmental Policy Act to do an environmental impact statement on the proposed area, and schedule a series of public hearings on the EIS.

Tim Thompson, spokesman for the Alaska Railroad, said he anticipates having the application in to the Surface Transportation Board by mid-December, and that the board should make its decision on whether to approve the rail extension by late 2008 or early 2009.

Thompson said the railroad would float bonds for the project only if studies show a way to pay for the bonds.

“We are just doing conduit financing,” Thompson said. “We don't make any money on the deal. The Alaska Railroad can actually bond, but we need a dedicated revenue stream; we need to know the money is out there to pay back the bond.”

The public information sessions and related efforts by the borough are being paid for through a $10 million appropriation of state funds allocated during the 2007 Alaska Legislature.

The borough hired HDR Alaska Inc. to analyze environmental issues associated with the range of alternatives, and conduct public meetings. TNH-Hanson LLC was hired to develop the rail alternatives and provide conceptual engineering services to the railroad.

The project, which would involve construction of 30 to 45 miles of new rail line, would cost roughly $4 million to $8 million per mile, Thompson said. The three proposed corridors begin in the Point MacKenzie area and range between 28 miles and 45 miles in length, connecting with the railroad's main line at different locations.

Maps showing the routes under consideration are posted on the project Web site at www.portmacrail.com.

Borough officials would like to see the new rail link in operation by the end of 2011 or the start of 2012, Thompson said.

While some borough residents are reserving judgment until they get more information on the project, businessmen like Roger Purcell of Houston and Iditarod Trail dog mushing veterans Martin Buser and Lynda Plettner, both of Big Lake, are already voicing enthusiasm.

Purcell, president of the Houston Chamber of Commerce, said he sees the rail link as an opportunity for Houston to keep its lifestyle and get the economic development to promote that lifestyle.

“We have some of the most beautiful country in Alaska for living in, but we need industry to come in and reduce the burden of taxes on home owners,” Purcell said.

Purcell said a manufacturing firm that is interested in having a loading dock to move out its products has approached the city.

While residents favor economic development, they don't want coal or strip mining, he added.

Buser sees the rail extension as a “long reaching, tremendous benefit” to the state.

“It can be labeled the first major capital transportation project in the state since the opening of the Parks Highway, with as much impact as the Parks Highway,” he said. “I will be impacted as a multi-trail user, but I believe the state will be positively impacted even more than a few individuals like me. We are seeing Alaska mature with projects like that. We will be able to dictate more of our future. It will make the state more independent.”