Project
Background & 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 [TOP]
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:
Final Environmental Impact Statement
[TOP]
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.
The Gravina Island Highway
[TOP]
Before and during the preparation of the Gravina
Access Project Draft EIS and Final EIS, the Ketchikan
Gateway Borough was separately planning development
of a new road around the west side of the airport
to the Lewis Reef development area. Based on consultation
with the Borough, DOT&PF configured all build
alternatives to include construction of the Lewis
Reef Road around the west side of the airport to
access Borough and other developable lands, which
serve many of the same general purposes envisioned
by the Borough.
Supplemental
Environmental Impact Statement [TOP]
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.
In addition to the Lewis
Reef Road, Alternative F1 and F3 included an additional
road segment on Gravina Island. The road segment
started on Gravina Island approximately 3.4 miles
south of the airport runway and continued north
to the intersection of the Airport Access Road and
Lewis Reef Road. This road segment is referred to
as the Gravina Island Highway, which was completed
in the fall 2008. The Gravina Island Highway is
now open and provides public access to lands on
Gravina Island.
The DOT&PF has moved forward with the first
phase of the Gravina Island Access: construction
of the Gravina Island Highway. The work includes
the site grading, placing embankment,
constructing bridges over Government Creek and Gravina
Creek, installing drainage structures,
and other improvements. Construction of the Gravina
Island Highway was complete in the Fall 2008.
