"U.S. Department of Transportation"

The U.S. Department of Transportation is sending Alaska a total of $80 million for safety and capital improvements in the first year of the five-year infrastructure program, approved by Congress last month.

A local port engineer who worked on the grant says his takeaway is that aging marine infrastructure in Haines and Cordova were higher priority than improving Juneau’s relatively new cruise ship docks to reduce emissions.

Ravn CEO Rob McKinney says tickets are now available for scheduled flights between Anchorage and Unalaska, Sand Point, Homer, Kenai and Valdez

Combined with an earlier grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, $45 million in federal grants will offset tariffs to pay for upgrades Anchorage officials say are desperately needed.

A proposed 15-member committee would advise Congress and the Transportation secretary, and give Alaskans and coastal residents a voice as the sea ice recedes and marine traffic increases.

The full price tag for upgrading the cement and petroleum terminal at the port is $214 million. The terminal is a critical component in delivering fuel and construction material to Alaska.

St. Paul officials are scrambling to extend air service through the holidays. As of Thursday, the isolated island in the Bering Sea will continue to have flights to Anchorage through Sunday.

The Federal Highway Commission released the funds Saturday after it said it received a request from Alaska Gov. Bill Walker and the state transportation commissioner, Marc Luiken.

In most of the Inside Passage, there are no roads connecting the communities, so Alaskans depend heavily on ferries: the Alaska Marine Highway System.

Juneau’s history of time zones is quite complicated. New legislation could heal an old “war wound” for when the capital city moved off Pacific Time in 1983.