The Foothills West Transportation Access project study area is very large, ranging from a northern limit at Franklin Bluffs along the Dalton Highway at Milepost 376, south to Galbraith Lake near Dalton Highway Milepost 278, and from those points west to converge on a state owned airport at Umiat. Umiat is located approximately 90 miles west of the Dalton Highway. There are no permanent roads or developed airports within the project study area. Several winter trails are present, including a portion of the “Hickel Highway,” which served as an historical access corridor for oil exploration in the area.

Within the project study area, five individual study corridors between the Dalton Highway and Umiat were identified and evaluated for potential, future study. Evaluation criteria included their potential to access to oil and gas resources, as well as an array of environmental and engineering considerations. From this analysis, an individual project corridor that holds the highest potential for success has been developed, beginning in the vicinity of Galbraith Lake and trending northwest to the Gubik oil and gas fields, then further west to Umiat (see link below for map of the “Galbraith” corridor.) As a result of its potential, the "Galbraith" corridor has been the primary focus of the 2009 and 2010 field investigations.

The entire study area is located above the Arctic Circle, and enjoys twenty four hour daylight in the short summer season, and 24 hours of darkness in darkest portion of the winter. The project study area is considered to have an arctic climate, and entirely underlain by permafrost. Annual temperatures range for lows of colder than minus fifty degrees Fahrenheit in the winter to highs of greater than eighty degrees Fahrenheit during the summer months. The summer season lasts from June to August, with permanent snow cover beginning in September, and lasting through May. The area is extremely remote, with the nearest community to the study area being Nuiqsut, a community approximately 60 miles to the North. Prudhoe Bay, approximately 100 miles to the north of the project study area, is the closest location served by both commercial jet services as well as access by an all season year round road.

There are six major rivers and numerous smaller drainages within the study area. Major rivers include the Colville, Chandler, Anaktuvuk, Itkillik, Kuparuk, and Toolik.