![]() Alaska DOT&PF seal | |
Agency overview | |
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Headquarters | 3132 Channel Drive, P.O. Box 112500, Juneau, Alaska 99811 |
Employees | Over 3,000 permanent full-time, part-time and non-permanent employees in 8 labor unions in 83 locations throughout the state. |
Agency executive |
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Website | www.dot.alaska.gov |
The Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (DOT&PF) is a department within the government of Alaska. [2] Its headquarters are in Alaska's capital city, Juneau. The mission of Alaska DOT&PF is to "Keep Alaska Moving through service and infrastructure."The Alaska Department of Transportation was established on July 1, 1977, by Alaska Highway Commissioner Walter Parker during the administration of Governor Jay Hammond. [3] The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities merged the former departments of Highways and Public Works.
Alaska DOT&PF designs, constructs, operates and maintains the state's transportation infrastructure systems, buildings, and other facilities used by Alaskans and visitors. These include more than 5,600 miles of paved and gravel highways; more than 300 aviation facilities, including 235 rural airports and 2 international airports (Fairbanks International Airport and Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport); 839 public facilities; 21 harbors; and a ferry system covering 3,500 marine miles serving 33 coastal communities. [4]
The Board of Road Commissioners for Alaska, more commonly known as the Alaska Road Commission or ARC, was created in 1905 as a board of the U.S. War Department. It was responsible for the construction and improvement of many important Alaska highways, such as the Richardson Highway, Steese Highway, Elliot Highway and Edgerton Highway, among others. [5] Wilds P. Richardson was the first president of the ARC, from 1905 to 1917.
The commission was transferred to the Department of the Interior in 1932, and was absorbed by the Bureau of Public Roads, a division of the Commerce Department in 1956. Today, responsibility for road development and maintenance in Alaska lies with the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities.
The Alaska DOT&PF is administratively divided into three regions, Northern, Central, and Southcoast. The Alaska Marine Highway System, Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, and Fairbanks International Airport are also overseen by Alaska DOT&PF.
The Northern Region, headquartered in Fairbanks, is the largest, most geographically diverse, and maintains more centerline miles of highway, including the Alaska Highway, Richardson Highway, Taylor Highway, Denali Highway, and Dalton Highway and portions of the Parks Highway and the Glenn Highway.
The Central Region, headquartered in Anchorage, includes the state's most urban areas, as well as some of the most remote villages on the Kuskokwim Delta, the Alaska Peninsula, and the Aleutian Chain. Central Region maintains the Seward Highway and the Sterling Highway, as well as parts of the Parks Highway and Glenn Highway.
The Southcoast Region, headquartered in Juneau, serves the coastal communities of Alaska encompassing a population of 98,000. Currently, only three Southcoast communities are connected to the continental highway system – Skagway, Haines, and Hyder.
The Alaska Marine Highway System is headquartered in Ketchikan, Alaska. [6] From there, AMHS management directs the operation and maintenance of our fleet of nine [7] vessels, ranging in size from the 181 ft. MV Lituya to the 418 ft. MV Columbia.
The Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) is a state-owned public-use airport located in Anchorage. The airport is named for Ted Stevens, a U.S. senator from Alaska in office from 1968 to 2009. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021, in which it is categorized as a medium-hub primary commercial service facility. In 2023, ANC was the 4th busiest airport in the world for cargo throughput. ANC's General Aviation capacity includes seaplane base Lake Hood, the world's busiest seaplane base, handling an average of 190 flights per day. The base has an operating control tower, and during the winter months the frozen lake surface is maintained for ski-equipped airplanes.
The Fairbanks International Airport (FAI) is a state-owned public-use airport located in Fairbanks. Fairbanks is the smallest city in the United States with regularly scheduled non-stop international flights, and FAI is the second largest multi-use airfield in the Alaska. FAI's General Aviation capacity includes 322 tie downs and 175 float pond spaces. Small aircraft pilots have a choice of two runways - one is gravel and the other paved - of 2,900’ x 75’ and 6,500’x 100 feet, respectively. The float pond has a 5,400’ x 100’ landing surface.
The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau, is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alaska, located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle. Juneau was named the capital of Alaska in 1906, when the government of what was then the District of Alaska was moved from Sitka as dictated by the U.S. Congress in 1900. On July 1, 1970, the City of Juneau merged with the City of Douglas and the surrounding Greater Juneau Borough to form the current consolidated city-borough, which ranks as the second-largest municipality in the United States by area and is larger than both Rhode Island and Delaware.
Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is a major airport in the U.S. state of Alaska, located 5 miles (8 km) southwest of downtown Anchorage. The airport is named for Ted Stevens, who served as a senator of Alaska from 1968 to 2009. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021, in which it is categorized as a medium-hub primary commercial service facility.
Fairbanks International Airport is a state-owned public-use airport located three miles (5 km) southwest of the central business district of Fairbanks, a city in the Fairbanks North Star Borough of the United States state of Alaska. It is located in the South Van Horn census-designated place. Fairbanks was the smallest city in the United States with regularly scheduled non-stop international flights, as Condor offered weekly flights to Frankfurt during the summer tourist season. Air North is now the only international airline to offer scheduled charters with flights.
Frontier Flying Service was an American airline headquartered in Fairbanks, Alaska, United States. It operated an extensive network of year-round scheduled commuter services and postal services to Alaska bush communities, primarily north of Fairbanks, as well as charter services to the lower 48 and Canada.
The Alaska Marine Highway (AMH) or the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) is a ferry service operated by the U.S. state of Alaska. It has its headquarters in Ketchikan, Alaska.
Alaska Central Express is an airline based at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Anchorage, Alaska, United States. It is a cargo and small package express service.
Juneau International Airport is a city-owned, public-use airport and seaplane base located seven nautical miles northwest of the central business district of Juneau, a city and borough in the U.S. state of Alaska that has no direct road access to the outside world. The airport serves as a regional hub for all air travel, from bush carriers to major U.S. air carriers such as Alaska Airlines.
This article discusses transportation in the U.S. state of Alaska.
Annette Island Airport is located on Annette Island in the Prince of Wales – Hyder Census Area of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located 5 nautical miles (9 km) south of Metlakatla, Alaska. The airport was established as the Annette Island Army Airfield during World War II and initially served as a military airbase.
MV Lituya is a shuttle ferry operated by the Alaska Marine Highway System. Her route connects Metlakatla on Annette Island to Ketchikan.
The Gravina Island Bridge, commonly referred to as the "Bridge to Nowhere", was a proposed bridge to replace the ferry that currently connects the town of Ketchikan, Alaska, United States, with Gravina Island, an island that contains the Ketchikan International Airport as well as 50 residents. The bridge was projected to cost $398 million. Members of the Alaskan congressional delegation, particularly Representative Don Young and Senator Ted Stevens, were the bridge's biggest advocates in Congress, and helped push for federal funding. The project encountered fierce opposition outside Alaska as a symbol of pork barrel spending and is labeled as one of the more prominent "bridges to nowhere". As a result, Congress removed the federal earmark for the bridge in 2005. Funding for the "Bridge to Nowhere" was continued as of March 2, 2011, in the passing of H.R. 662: Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2011 by the House of Representatives, and finally cancelled in 2015.
Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of the state's population, and has more people than all of Northern Canada and Greenland combined. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Matanuska-Susitna Borough, had a population of 398,328 in 2020, accounting for more than half the state's population. At 1,706 sq mi (4,420 km2) of land area, the city is the fourth-largest by area in the U.S.
The Lynn Canal Highway, or Juneau Access Road, is a proposed road between Skagway and City and Borough of Juneau, the capital of the U.S. state of Alaska. Such a road, if built, would still require ferry access to connect Juneau to the Alaskan highway network. The new road would be 47.9 miles long, built at an estimated cost of $574 million, and be a part of Alaska Route 7. The plan of the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (DOT&PF) called for extending "The Road" northward from Juneau to a ferry terminal 18 miles south of Skagway. The corridor crosses Berners Bay LUD II which is a congressionally designated roadless area created by the Tongass Timber Reform Act (TTRA). The act permits crossing LUD IIs when the governor of the State of Alaska designates routes as essential transportation corridors. The proposed road skirts the shore of a northwestern section of Alaska's Inside Passage, which was recently named a National Scenic Waterway. As of 2017, the project has been indefinitely shelved due to the state's budget crisis.
Alaska Route 7 is a state highway in the Alaska Panhandle of the U.S. state of Alaska. It consists of four unconnected pieces which serve some of the Panhandle communities. The Alaska Marine Highway ferries stop in the cities connecting to the Alaska Highway in Yukon via the Haines Highway.
Taquan Air is the operating name for Venture Travel, LLC, an American regional airline headquartered in Ketchikan, a city in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Alaska. It operates domestic scheduled passenger and charter services. Its base is Ketchikan Harbor Seaplane Base, which shares the same harbor and airspace as Ketchikan International Airport. As per the United States Department of Transportation in a report dated August 2, 2010, Taquan Air is a "U.S. Certificated Air Carrier", and is 1 of 125 such carriers in the US.
Servant Air, Inc. is an American regional airline with operations throughout The United States and Alaska, USA. It operates domestic scheduled passenger and international charter services. Its main hub is Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (PANC) and its main scheduled airline service base is Kodiak Airport (PADQ) with regional operations bases in Boston, MA, White Plains, NY, Fort Lauderdale, FL and San Juan, PR. Servant Air Also provides critical care Air Ambulance services throughout its operating area.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the U.S. state of Alaska:
The Gravina Island Highway is a 3.2-mile-long (5.1 km) gravel highway located on Gravina Island, in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough of the U.S. state of Alaska. The highway was part of a project that would connect Gravina Island, specifically, the Ketchikan International Airport, to the city of Ketchikan. The Gravina Island Bridge, which would have connected the highway to Ketchikan was cancelled, but the highway was built. Because the highway does not pass by or connect to any village or other place of importance, it has been nicknamed the Highway to Nowhere.