Gravina Access Project Background Gravina logo& Information

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), in cooperation with DOT&PF, identified a need to improve access between Revillagigedo Island and Gravina Island in Southeast Alaska. The Gravina Access Project is one of 17 high priority projects funded in the state by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. The principal modes of transportation to Ketchikan are airplane, including floatplane, and ship. No “hard-link” surface transportation is available to or between Revillagigedo and Gravina islands, or to other communities in Alaska or the Lower 48.

Currently, the Ketchikan Gateway Borough operated ferry system provides the only scheduled surface transportation to Gravina Island. It services mostly foot traffic, but also carries vehicles across Tongass Narrows directly to the airport terminal. Regularly scheduled airline service and ferry connections through the Alaska Marine Highway System link Ketchikan to the rest of Alaska and the Lower 48.

Purpose and Need
Final Environmental Impact Statement
The Gravina Island Highway
Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement

Purpose and Need

The purpose of the Gravina Access Project is to improve surface transportation between Revillagigedo Island, home of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough, City of Ketchikan and the City of Saxman, and Gravina Island, the location of the Ketchikan International Airport and adjoining lands that offer recreational and development potential. Currently, a small ferry provides the only regular access to Gravina Island with a terminal at Ketchikan International Airport. Access to the remainder of Gravina Island is available by watercraft and the Lewis Reef Road. The opening of the Gravina Island Highway also provides access to some private lands and the Ketchikan Gateway Borough’s developable lands north and south of the airport reserve, and to the Bostwick Lake Road and the Alaska Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Forest Service’s timber lands. The need for improving access is threefold:

  • To provide the Ketchikan Gateway Borough and its residents more reliable, efficient, convenient, and cost-effective access for vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians to Borough lands and other developable or recreational lands on Gravina Island in support of the Borough’s adopted land use plans.

  • To improve the convenience and reliability of access to Ketchikan International Airport for passengers, airport tenants, emergency personnel and equipment, and shipment of freight.

  • To promote environmentally sound, planned long-term economic development on Gravina Island.

Final Environmental Impact Statement

The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) examined nine build alternatives and the No
Build Alternative. The nine build alternatives included six bridge alternatives and three ferry alternatives. The Final EIS which was distributed to the public and federal and state agencies on July 30, 2004, identified Alternative F1 as the FHWA’s and DOT&PF’s Preferred Alternative.

Alternative F1 would cross Tongass Narrows via Pennock Island with two bridges: a 200-foot bridge over the East Channel and 120-foot bridge over the West Channel. FHWA issued a Record of Decision on September 15, 2004, and identified Alternative F1 as the Selected Alternative.

Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement

On Sept. 21, 2007, Governor Palin announced that the State could not fund the selected bridge alternative identified in the Gravina Access Project Record of Decision (Gravina Access Project Redirected 07-192) and directed the DOT&PF to look for the most fiscally responsible alternative for access to the airport and Gravina Island instead of proceeding further with Alternative F1.

Alternative F1 included a road segment on Gravina Island to connect the bridge over West Channel to the Airport Access Road. The road segment, referred to as the Gravina Island Highway, started approximately 3.4 miles south of the airport runway and continued north to the intersection of the Airport Access Road and Lewis Reef Road. The DOT&PF had moved forward with construction of the Gravina Island Highway prior to Governor Palin’s announcement and completed construction of the highway in the fall 2008. The Gravina Island Highway is now open and provides public access to lands on Gravina Island.