[Wilks]
The 1.2 trillion dollar infrastructure bill signed into law last November was celebrated this week by Senator Lisa Murkowski who had a hand in writing and negotiating the bill and getting it passed with the support of a small bipartisan group of Senators. Now nearly $3 billion dollars of it have already been announced for Alaska. Part of that money will be spent on transportation needs for the Upper Lynn Canal. $ 1,006,493 is set aside for improvements to the Haines airport and $ 159,000 for the Skagway airport.
Additionally, the Haines Borough, Hoonah Angoon Census Area, and Skagway will see $ 33,017,636 as part of the Alaska Telephone Company fiber-to-premises network project, designed to help bring reliable and affordable broadband network to rural areas throughout Alaska as part of the USDA ReConnect Program.
As part of the Jilkaat Kwaan Heritage Center Bank Stabilization Project, Klukwan will receive $589,762 in funding under the Tribal Climate Resilience 2022 program.
The infrastructure act will also allocate $1 billion dollars for a new program that establishes an essential ferry service to support rural communities. This program will provide funding to the Alaska Marine Highway System. Something that Senator Murkowski emphasized when we spoke to her earlier this year.
{Murkowski]
The Alaska marine highway system is too important to this region, and not just this region. It’s up in Prince William Sound, it’s out in Kodiak, it’s down in in in the Aleutians. We can do better, we can do better as a state in providing for highway service. And that highway service in our coastal communities is marine highway.
[Wilks]
For KHNS in Haines, I’m Brandon Wilks.
