BLM opens 90-day public comment period on Ambler road

FAIRBANKS — A federal agency has begun a 90-day public comment period on a proposed 211-mile road in interior Alaska.

The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported the Bureau of Land Management is taking comments regarding the scope of an environmental review for the proposed Ambler Road.

The road would be used as industrial access and closed to the public.

Gov. Bill Walker shelved the project in 2015 because of budget concerns. He later said he would allow spending up to $3.6 million to begin the environmental review and allow the project to reach a natural stopping point.

The environmental statement could be used by federal agencies in the permitting process.

The proposed road would start at the Dalton Highway and cross southern foothills of the Brooks Range to the Ambler Mining District.

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