Alaska’s ferry system receives $177.4 million in federal funds

The Tustumena sailing distant from Kodiak, May 17, 2024. (Brian Venua/KMXT)

The Alaska Marine Highway System has been awarded $177.4 cardinal to spell towards operational costs, bringing Wi-Fi to passengers and replacing nan oldest ferry successful nan fleet.

Alaska’s Congressional Delegation announced nan caller costs connected Sep. 13.

Alaska Department of Transportation spokesperson Sam Dapcevich said they don’t yet cognize each nan specifications of really nan money will beryllium spent. However, a large information – $106.4 cardinal – will spell towards replacing nan 60-year-old Tustumena aliases “Tusty” that serves Kodiak, Homer and nan Aleutian Islands.

“That caps disconnected our backing needed for nan existent estimate to switch nan Tusty,” Dapcevich said.

The value tag for nan project, called TRV for Tustumena Replacement Vessel, is complete $315 million. The remainder of nan costs will travel from federal money nan authorities has already received. The ferry build is scheduled to beryllium completed successful 2027-28.

Of nan national funding, $66 cardinal is going to “support sustainable operations for agrarian communities.” Dapcevich said nan authorities hasn’t yet wished precisely really that money will beryllium spent, but that it will beryllium utilized for operational costs.

Another $5 cardinal is earmarked for mounting up Wi-Fi connected each nan ferries. Starlink is already disposable for unit and operations, but this would widen net entree to passengers.

“It requires adding entree points passim nan alloy – you can’t conscionable driblet 1 router connected apical and everybody has service,” Dapcevich said. “So, that’ll return immoderate clip to, you know, ligament everything in, and it would request to beryllium firewalled from operations. So, it’ll return a small spot of clip to implement, but I deliberation successful nan agelong run, it’ll beryllium a batch for illustration Alaska Airlines, wherever a personification tin hop connected and person a connection.”

Up until a fewer years ago, national backing for Alaska’s ferry strategy came done nan Federal Highway Administration. Now, it’s done nan Federal Transit Administration, which Dapcevich said helps abstracted nan ferry strategy from different proscription needs.

“AMHS utilized to travel retired of nan aforesaid cookware arsenic nan regular highways and airports and each that, and now it’s coming retired of nan FTA, which I deliberation is an improvement,” he said.

Recent national awards travel from nan Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which has designated $700 cardinal to Alaska’s ferry projects complete nan past 3 years.

Alaska’s Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, and Representative Mary Peltola lauded nan latest funding, voicing their support for nan marine road system.