The Alaska Department of Transportation will be conducting a feasibility study of a tunnel underneath Knik Arm to connect Anchorage to the Mat-Su.
State transportation leaders have studied options to build a second major roadway north out of Anchorage for decades. A 2019 study estimated a Knik Arm crossing would cost over $900 million.
The proposed tunnel would be built beneath Cook Inlet, connecting an undeveloped area of Anchorage with Point MacKenzie in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough.
The feasibility study is set to examine the costs, potential economic benefits and environmental impacts of the megaproject. It is due to be completed by December 2025.
The study is intended to explore ways to meet current and future transportation needs and to alleviate traffic from the Glenn Highway.
The Mat-Su is the fastest growing region in the state. Around one-third of its residents commute to Anchorage for work.
However, a Knik Arm bridge has faced opposition due its projected costs and its impacts on the Government Hill area of Anchorage. A lodge and other buildings were razed in 2015 to make way for the bridge.
Former Gov. Bill Walker shut down the Knik Arm bridge in 2016.
In 2019, Gov. Mike Dunleavy reversed an administrative order by Walker that halted the bridge and other major construction projects. The project has not advanced since then.
Source: Anchorage Daily News, Yahoo!
