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Begich says get projects ‘job ready’ Returning from Washington, senator-elect says bid ready projects more likely to be funded in any future infrastructure program Eric Lidji Petroleum News
Alaska could reap the most benefits from a major federal stimulus package expected in the coming year by readying a slate of projects, according to Senator-elect Mark Begich.
“Many in Congress are saying that they have to be job ready,” Begich said on Dec. 11.
Begich, who spoke to reporters after his first tour of Washington, D.C., since winning the election, said the debate in Congress currently revolves around how best to fund those projects, whether to use a formula for the states, fund actual projects or mix approaches.
But Begich said he expects infrastructure projects to be prioritized based on their ability to create jobs, have long- term impacts and preferably include an energy component.
That criteria could bode well for a slate of transportation projects in Alaska that need to be completed before construction begins on a natural gas pipeline from the North Slope.
“It is imperative that we have the necessary infrastructure in place to bring in and stage all the materials that will be used during the construction,” Drue Pearce, federal coordinator for Alaska natural gas transportation projects said in late November.
Those projects include upgrades to almost every major highway in Alaska, including the 416-mile Dalton Highway, the only land route to the North Slope, as well as the Glenn and Parks highways, two of the busiest roads for commuters and industry in the state.
In the proposed budget for fiscal year 2010 unveiled on Dec. 15, the Palin administration included funding for some of those projects, like work on the Richardson and Haines highways, but not for others, like expensive work needed for the Dalton-Elliott corridor.
In early December, President-elect Barack Obama announced plans for the “single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s” as a way to spur job growth and stimulate the sinking economy.
“If a state doesn’t act quickly to invest in roads and bridges in their communities, they’ll lose the money,” Obama said in his weekly radio address on Dec. 6.
‘Ready to go’ projects Alaska has only four “ready to go” transportation projects, according to a survey released Dec. 5 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
Only Washington, D.C., had fewer “ready to go” projects, defined in the survey as projects that “could be under contract within 180 days … if the funding were made available.”
The four Alaska projects would be worth around $139.3 million, the survey estimated.
Asked if he thought Congress might oppose funding projects in Alaska, a small state with large savings, Begich said, “There probably will be a bias, but my job is to equalize it.”
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