Feds announce millions in rural transportation grants ahead of billions more infrastructure dollars coming to Alaska

The Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration announced a slate of grants worth more than $10 million for 36 tribal and village governments across the country this week. Alaska tribes secured nine of those grants, bringing $2.3 million into the state to fund transportation-related projects.

The grants come just as federal and elected officials are flagging for constituents a massive oncoming infusion of funds from passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law by President Joe Biden last year with the full support of Alaska’s all-Republican congressional delegation.

[Earlier coverage: Infrastructure bill to bring billions to Alaska for roads, ports and broadband. Here are some of the specifics.]

On the same day the tribal transit grants were unveiled, Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski released new details on four Alaska projects selected for funding under the legislation that will channel more than half a billion dollars into the state in the coming years.

During a brief video address from Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Nuria Fernandez, head of the Federal Transit Administration, offered broad outlines of the transportation programs set to receive federal dollars.

“These grants strengthen tribal transportation by making investments that maintain transit services, enhance economic development, and increase safety, sustainability, resiliency, and accessibility, which are particularly important as we emerge from the public health emergency,” Fernandez said.

The projects include:

• $176,600 to the Asa’carsarmiut Tribe for operations and new vehicles to “improve safety, reliability and mobility for tribal members in Mountain Village, Alaska.”

• $70,172 in two grants for the Craig Tribal Association to pay for new bus shelters and commission a public transit expansion plan to Prince of Wales Island residents.

• $221,289 for two grants to the Village of Huslia for an Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant vehicle and operations support for transporting tribal members between Huslia and the Birch Grove subdivision near the community.

• $1,172,153 for the Kenaitze Indian Tribe to expand bus service for tribal members across a fixed route on the central Kenai Peninsula.

• $25,000 and $12,500 for the Klawock Cooperative Association and Petersburg Indian Association, respectively, to develop transportation plans for improved access to health care and jobs.

• $961,177 to the Seldovia Village Tribe to build a replacement ferry dock.

The remainder of the grants were awarded to tribes across the country, from California to New York, with heavy representation from tribal governments in the southwest.

[Alaska to offer limited catamaran service for Southeast towns]

“Today’s announcement is an important step toward ensuring Tribal Nations have the transportation infrastructure they need and deserve,” said Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg in a statement. “Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we’ll soon be able to provide Tribes additional funding to meet the unique transit needs of their residents.”

Transportation officials also pointed to an additional $229 million for the same kinds of tribal transit grants that were secured over the next five years under the infrastructure bill.

Murkowski’s office issued a separate statement on Wednesday heralding that as a result of the same legislation “four more projects in Alaska have been selected to receive substantial federal funding.”

The largest chunk of money is $250 million for the long-studied Port of Nome expansion that will create the nation’s northernmost deep-draft port at the edge of the Arctic. There’s also $185 million for the Lowell Creek flood diversion project in Seward; $88 million for the Moose Creek Dam project in North Pole; and $28 million for the Kenai Bluffs bank stabilization project.

“This announcement — made possible by our bipartisan infrastructure bill — is worthy of celebration. These projects are real-life, boots-on-the-ground examples of the priorities we addressed through this historic law. I’m proud of our work on it and thrilled by the results it is already producing for our state,” Murkowski said.

Alaska’s delegation in a joint statement last week also celebrated that the infrastructure bill will provide $25 million to bolster a failing portion of the Denali Park Road.

Murkowski, who is up for reelection this year, was part of a bipartisan group of senators that negotiated the infrastructure bill.