Late last month, U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan announced that the Federal Transit Administration would be awarding $131 million in additional funding to support the Alaska Marine Highway System. 

 

The Alaska Marine Highway System serves more than 30 communities across roughly 3,500 miles of coastline.  In January of this year, Senator Lisa Murkowski announced more than $285 million in funding for Alaska’s marine highway. The funds were earmarked for modernizing four of AMHS’ aging ships, replacing the nearly 60-year-old Tustumena, upgrading ferry docks, and investing in long-term sustainability of the ferry service that many Alaskans rely upon. Now, an additional $131 million in funding is being applied to help support AMHS operations.

State Senator Jesse Kiehl praised the influx of funding, saying, “These dollars are critical to rebuild our coastal infrastructure. Replacing ships and investing in crews builds a sustainable, more efficient ferry system for the next generation of Alaskans.” 

Robert Venables is the former Haines borough manager and current executive director of Southeast Conference, a regional civic and business organization. He praised the news of the additional funding.

Venables: “Well, this is a huge, huge deal for the Marine highway system. And anytime good investments made in the ferry system, it’s going to be a benefit to Haines, Skagway in the entire last week highway. So the Tustamena is the primary focus for these funds 92 million of that 131 is going into what they call the trv the testimony replacement vessel. And that’s good for a number of reasons. It’s been the most needy vessel for the longest time. It’s time to get that thing under final contract with the shipyard has been in design, it’s ready to go. So this is the construction funding that’s needed.”

The federal funding comes from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act as part of Senator Murkowski’s new Ferry Service for Rural Communities Program. This new funding brings a total of $716 million thus far to support the state’s Marine Highway System. The other $38 million of the funding will go towards supporting sustainable ferry service in Southeast Alaska. That includes needed upgrades for ferry terminals and operational capacity, something that Venables says is much needed.

Venables: “There’s a lot of money also being spent shoreside and throughout the system, there’s a lot of terminal upgrades that are happening that’s going to help the new fleets. You know, with itsoperational efficiencies, one of the things we’re looking at throughout the system is where we can support more electrified operations, whether it’s the ferry system or the cruise ships, or whether it’s electric vehicles. And so just kind of taking a look at how all of this feeds into the bigger picture for healthier, more sustainable communities is a great conversation to be having these days.”

Venables, a longtime advocate for the ferry system, says that previous funds have been allocated for a low-emission replacement ferry, which he and the Southeast Conference have been pushing for.

Venables: “Last Friday, on December 1, Southeast Conference made a presentation to the Alaska marine highway operations board on that very topic. So we gave a presentation on what we call the low emission ferry, and that presentation on their website. And that really lays the groundwork and rationale for this class of vessel. Next on the list will be community engagement and some design work, which will bring in some consultants, that will lead to a shipyard build. So we will see that happen within the next year. And that is something that we are leaning on to try to help accelerate as much as possible.”

To date, Alaska has received over $6 billion and counting in infrastructure investments as a result of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, enacted by the Biden Administration in 2021. The 2024 summer ferry schedule is now available for public review.