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Senate Finance Co-Chairwoman Lyda Green, R-Wasilla, said Friday night she restored the $45 million upon hearing from state officials that $25 million wasn't enough.

The new budget wasn't released until after 5 p.m., but at least 50 Southeast Alaska residents staged a rally against the road on the Capitol steps at noon Friday. The controversial $258 million project would link a new 50-mile road ending at the Katzehin River to shuttle ferries traveling to Haines and Skagway.

Some Juneau parents at the rally said the state shouldn't spend general fund dollars on the road, but rather on education. State ferry employees also spoke out against the road at the rally.

The Senate Finance Committee held a two-hour public hearing at 5 p.m. The panel took the unusual step of allowing six people to testify in favor of the road and six people to testify against the road.

Some road critics cried foul at the committee's decision, noting that at least in the northern Panhandle communities of Haines and Skagway, more people are against the road than are for it.

Juneau commercial fisherman Jim Becker testified for the road, saying it would allow the Panhandle's seafood industry to ship larger volumes of fresh fish, and thus get a better price.

The Yukon's premier, Dennis Fentie, called in to testify in support of the road as well. He said Yukoners can see the benefits of a project linking the Alaska's capital to the highway grid.

Bart Henderson, of Haines, said the state has been ignoring a massive public outcry against the road. Henderson noted that the current fast ferry service in Lynn Canal is the most lucrative for the ferry system. If the state carries through with its plans to pull the ferries from Lynn Canal, "it is unlikely to be a healthy step for the ferry system," Henderson said.

At the conclusion of the public testimony on the road and other capital projects Friday night, Senate Finance Co-Chairman Gary Wilken, R-Fairbanks, told the road's critics they needed to get behind the road project.

"The future is a road out of here," Wilken said.

Wilken said that he believes the state's ferry system is in a downhill slide and he doesn't think Alaskans are going to support rising budget requests for the ferry system in the future.

George Poor, a state ferry system engineer, said after the hearing that he personally disagreed with Wilken's statements.

The state has experienced escalating fuel costs but by the same token, the state government is also flush with a large budget surplus that resulted from those high prices, Poor said.

Also, rather than a downward spiral, Poor said the ferries are going through a period of improvement. They provide "excellent transportation, much safer than this road," Poor said.

• Elizabeth Bluemink can be reached at elizabeth.bluemink@juneauempire.com.