41.0°

Two road projects, one new and one old, have been highlighted by Gov. Sarah Palin in a speech to the Legislature. Both may be ahead of the Juneau Access Project, the controversial road up Lynn Canal for which Palin's support has been waning.

In Palin's State-of-the-State address last month to a joint legislative session, Palin renewed long-held hopes by the city of Nome and mining companies for a road across hundreds s of miles of challenging terrain to Nome.

She also surprised legislators when she said the state had already begun preliminary work on a North Slope road that few had heard of.

"To further develop, we're commissioning preliminary work on a road to Umiat, and pursuing a road to Nome," she said.

Umiat is about 140 miles southwest of Prudhoe Bay, and currently has no access by road or water. It also has oil and gas development potential, both at the Gubik gas field and as an access point to the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

Advocates of the Juneau Access Project and Ketchikan's Gravina Access Project are worried that the new roads will jump ahead of the Southeast projects.

"Personally, I'd like to see focus on projects that have been in the pipeline for a number of years," said Rep. Cathy Munoz, R-Juneau, and an outspoken advocate of the Juneau Road.

State Department of Transportation and Public Facilities staff say the state has no current estimates of what the newly proposed projects would cost. The work now underway should include cost estimates, they said.

Palin said she continues to support former Gov. Frank Murkowski's "Roads to Resources" focus on transportation spending.

At Umiat, resources is all that's there. The area has no year-round residents, state officials say, but is used for research and resource exploration, such as at Gubik.

Anadarko Petroleum lobbyist Mark Hanley said a road could help his company explore, and possibly develop the isolated Gubik Field.

"Right now we're on Rollagons and ice roads," he said.

Rollagons are vehicles with huge, low-pressure tires that allow operation without tearing up tundra.

Anadarko hopes to find commercially marketable quantities of gas there, and a way to get it to market.

"Clearly a road would help our economics, and probably help us get gas sooner," Hanley said.

One of the few who have heard of Umiat is Sen. Donny Olson, D-Nome.

"My dad worked up there after the war," he said. "It's an awfully cold place."

The Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Geological Survey conduct cold weather and climate change research there. BLM manages the NPRA.

A road to Nome has been discussed for decades, but has faltered on cost and feasibility concerns every time.

"It's still in the back of people's minds," Olson said.

A road would have many benefits for a region where all the fuel must be shipped in before winter, and stockpiled at great cost.

"If you had the ability to go ahead and have a road that went in there we'd have heating oil, gasoline and other petroleum products at a much more affordable rate," Olson said.

How much that road would cost is not yet clear.

"That will be an expensive project, there's no doubt about it," said Jeff Ottesen, planning director for the department.

The state has hired DOWL Engineers, Inc. to review existing studies of the road to find the best route, and then analyze costs. The best route will be based on economic benefits, engineering and environmental constraints, cultural and subsistence factors and land ownership, according to the department.

Transportation Commissioner Leo Von Scheben said Alaska has only roads running north and south, and needs roads running east and west as well.

"We have nothing west out of Alaska, we should have something west," he told the Legislature after Palin's Nome road study announcement.

DOWL's $1 million contract calls for a final report by December.

Preliminary work on Umiat has only just begun, officials said.

While a road to Umiat might be some time off, Hanley said Anadarko wouldn't be starting production at Gubik any time soon anyway, and there may not be enough gas to ever start production.

"Starting the process, we said we were going to take at least three seasons to understand what we have out there," he said.

Ketchikan Mayor Bob Weinstein said he was concerned that diverting attention to brand new projects would keep stalling progress on the Juneau Road, or the Ketchikan bridge that has been derided nationally as a "Bridge to Nowhere," but which is still being sought by the city.

"Both the Ketchikan and Juneau projects are worth some funding before a $10 billion road to Nome is considered," he said.

• Contact reporter Pat Forgey at 586-4816 or e-mail patrick.forgey@juneauempire.com.