On Tuesday, Alaska’s Department of Transportation & Public Funding announced it had received $87 million in redistribution funds from the Federal Highway Administration (FHA).
Redistribution is a federal policy that redistributes funding authority to states demonstrating they have met all of their federal allocations yet still have other unfunded federally eligible transportation needs.
According to the FHA, $6.1 billion in funding was available for redistribution. States requested nearly $6.3 billion in funding. Priority in redistribution funding was given to states with large unobligated balances of apportioned funds. California received the most in redistributed funds at more than $680 million, while Alabama received the least with no redistributed funds allocated to that state.
“We’re putting this money into our construction programs to make way for new investment,” said Ryan Anderson, DOT&PF Commissioner. “Alaska is geared up to build projects that address safety and fix our existing infrastructure.”
The $87 million would be applied to seven projects: Airport Way (West) improvements, CY22/23 AMATS Unified Planning Work Program, Dalton Highway MP 17-38 Reconstruction, Dowling Road & Seward Highway Interchange, Knik Goose Bay Road Reconstruction, Richardson Highway MY 159-167, and Sterling Highway 45-60.
The redistribution funding is a record for the state, officials said, outpacing the previous record of $76 million in 2015. The average redistribution over the past five years has been $43.5 million, making the current redistribution a 100 percent increase over the average.
The state’s DOT&PF oversees nine ferries serving 33 communities along 3,500 marine miles, 237 airports, over 5,600 miles of highway, and 839 public facilities throughout the state.