Sorted by date Results 301 - 325 of 381
Following their annual meeting last week in Prince Rupert, the Southeast Conference (SEC) will be going back to their transportation lobbying roots. The organization was formed in 1958 to lobby for a regional transportation system—now known as the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS)—and members are coming together once again to address needed changes to that system. A resolution was passed at last week’s meeting to restore the Transportation Board of the SEC, which will push during the upcoming legislative session to change the Marine Trans...
About 15 Petersburg and Kupreanof residents attended a meeting last Thursday night to hear about and voice their opinions on recent developments on the Kake Access road project. Meeting attendees listened to presentations by ADOT's Andy Hughes, Seth English-Young from the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) and two consultants working on the project who explained developments with the project's purpose and need statement and a screening process developed to evaluate 21 transportation... Full story
The 8th Annual Rainforest Festival kicks off next week and those attending the festival are going to be offered diverse opportunities, including watching an impactful documentary about a basket weaver, a field trip to listen for bats and wine-making with local ingredients followed by wine tasting. Things get started on Labor Day with the 2nd Annual Rainforest Run Half Marathon. Participants will be faced with the task of completing the 13.1 mile long course. Organizers are hoping to increase... Full story
Alaska Marine Highway Systems (AMHS) announced on Wednesday that repairs to the Columbia will take longer than expected. The vessel was delayed in Ketchikan earlier in the week due to mechanical issues with its exhaust system and propellers. Further inspection of the vessel revealed damage to the starboard propeller caused by striking a log. The Columbia is scheduled to return to passenger service August 31, according to the AMHS official notice. The Malaspina has been rerouted to replace the vessel until necessary repairs have been completed....
The Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) canceled the service of the ferry Chenega from Juneau to Petersburg on Tuesday, due to severe weather including high winds. DOT spokesman Jeremy Woodrow said the conditions hitting Stephens Passage resembled that of fall storms. AMHS released official notice after the decision to cancel Tuesday’s service was made on Monday. Customers with reservations received phone calls alerting them of the cancellation. Schedule revisions can be found at ferryalaska.com, or by calling your local terminal. Customers c...
The Assembly agreed to send a letter to the Alaska Department of Transportation (ADOT) as part of the public comment period on the winter schedule that expresses concerns about the schedule’s ability to meet student travel and visitor’s needs. “The schedule as proposed provides service to Petersburg, but will certainly have an effect on student travel and visitor traffic due to the length of time between trips to certain communities,” the letter reads. The letter also suggests ADOT conduct a survey of ridership and cost effectiveness to dete...
JUNEAU (AP) — Those who had hoped to catch a ride on the Alaska ferry Columbia Tuesday should be able to depart sometime Friday. The ferry was supposed to make stops in Sitka, Wrangell, Petersburg, Ketchikan and eventually Bellingham, Washington, but it never left port Tuesday. Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities spokesman Jeremy Woodrow called the three-day delay “unusual,” reported The Juneau Empire. “Usually it's just a few hours,” he said. “We're a little more confident with (today's departure).” Woodrow said a techni...
The Alaska Department of Transportation (ADOT) has cancelled the scheduled summer sailings of the M/V LeConte that would have utilized the South Mitkof ferry terminal due to maintenance-related delays of the Alaska Marine Highway System's (AMHS) vessels. Once a month sailings from May to September between Juneau, South Mitkof and Coffman Cove were planned to show the terminal was being used for its intended purpose and to avoid possible penalties or having to pay back federal funds used to... Full story
In the works for awhile, Rainforest Islands Ferry Service has been delayed yet again. The ferry was set to sail June 14, then postponed to June 28. “We were so close” to that start, spokeswoman Heather Hedges said, but work at the shipyard was delayed. The 65-foot landing craft made its way up to Ketchikan from Anacortes, Wash. on Monday and sea trials have just begun with another U.S. Coast Guard inspection scheduled. The first delay was due to a wait on USCG certification. “As long as everything goes smoothly,” Hedges said, service is expe... Full story
Five of Alaska Marine Highway System’s 11 ferries will be laid up at some point next year under a draft vessel deployment plan released on June 24. The Taku will be held in layup status the whole year, while the Kennicott will be from October until entering overhaul in early January. The Fairweather and Chenega will enter federal projects in October and mid-September, respectively, and will both be laid up starting in May 2016. The Malaspina is also scheduled to enter layup status in late May of next year. Under the draft schedule, from O...
JUNEAU (AP) — Alaska is facing the first tax increase in a decade after Governor Bill Walker signed the measure into law on Saturday morning. The law places new taxes on wholesale refined fuel, including gasoline and heating oil but not aviation fuel or fuel used by the Alaska Marine Highway, the Juneau Empire reported. The new tax will fund the oil spill prevention and response division of the Department of Environmental Conservation. The division is normally funded by oil revenue, but crude prices have declined and left a m...
The new Rainforest Islands Ferry Service, providing travel between Petersburg, Wrangell and Coffman Cove, has been delayed again. Set to begin June 14, service is now expected to start June 28 instead. Heather Hedges, who does advertising and marketing for Rainforest Islands Ferry, said the delay is due to a wait on Coast Guard certification. The ferry, a 65-foot landing craft called the Rainforest Islander, will provide service four days a week year round: Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday....
As of Tuesday, the Alaska Legislature meeting in a special session in Anchorage had still not passed a budget for the new fiscal year, which begins July 1. On Sunday, the Senate Finance Committee rejected a compromise budget passed by the House the previous day, which included some small concessions to the minority such as reversing cuts to the ferry system and per-student funding. A conference committee between the two chambers was being organized to negotiate an amended budget. However, any deal that would tap into Congressional Budget... Full story
It’s been a concern since budget talks began: the Alaska Marine Highway System’s summer ferry service will remain as scheduled — with the exception of the MV Taku. That ferry won’t be returning until October as maintenance to other vessels has delayed its annual overhaul, according to Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities. The MV Taku was originally slated to begin sailing again in July. With the Taku out, sailings to and from Prince Rupert, British Columbia, will be cut from four to two trips a week. Those include stops in... Full story
KETCHIKAN (AP) – Alaska Marine Highway System officials say more than 9,200 travelers have bought tickets for some ferry sailings this summer that might have to be canceled if funding is not restored to the proposed budget for fiscal year 2016. The Ketchikan Daily News newspaper reports the Marine Highway System could face about $11 million in cuts to its budget. Officials say that if that happens, the Taku, Chenega and Malaspina ferries would have to be sidelined from July through September of this year. Deputy Alaska Transportation C...
As the summer season nears its start, residents interested in seeking work with the Alaska Marine Highway System or various other marine-related occupations may need to make sure they have the proper credentials first. Among these is the Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC), which conveniently enough can be acquired at the Wrangell Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). The office was able to take on the program after filing an application through Morphotrust USA, an identity services provider. A site survey was conducted to make...
WRANGELL — Wrangell residents and other Alaskans from around the state were given more opportunity to voice concerns over impending cuts to state programming during a public hearing held Monday evening for the draft of next year’s budget being considered by the Senate Finance Committee. Six Wrangellites came to their local Legislative Information Office to provide testimony via telephone, along with residents of Petersburg and Ketchikan. “I am speaking in opposition to the cuts to the Alaska Marine Highway System,” borough manager Jeff Jabusch...
While established Alaska ferries fight for funding, a small startup is about to launch from northern Prince of Wales Island. The North End Ferry Authority based in Coffman Cove has created the Rainforest Islands Ferry, a three stop service that revives a canceled route of the Inter-Island Ferry Authority. Operating four days a week beginning June 14, the Rainforest Islands Ferry will travel from Coffman Cove to Wrangell and Petersburg via the South Mitkof terminal. The ferry authority is overhauling a landing craft, to be named the R...
Despite the proposed statewide budget cuts, our legislators will not close paved highways elsewhere in the state. Likewise, they won’t restrict two-lane highways down to a single lane. But that will be the effect a proposal by a legislative subcommittee that is proposing a 10-percent cut to the Alaska ferry system. Some proposals call for taking ferries out of service, including replacement vessels that go into service when vessels are taken out of service for repairs or annual Coast Guard required overhauls. Southeast communities will not o...
A number of public hearings on Alaska Marine Highway System’s operating budget have been scheduled this week, allowing ferry users the opportunity to give their input to state legislators as they draw up a budget. In a media release, Southeast Conference highlights the ferry system’s importance to the region’s communities, and further warns of a possible $9.5 million cut to AMHS being weighed as the Legislature finds ways to address a $3.5 billion deficit anticipated for the 2016 fiscal year. If that sized cut goes ahead as planned, servi...
Local economy overlooked To the Editor: An open letter to our Alaskan neighbors, The recent trade war over who makes the steel for the renovation of the Alaska Marine Highway ferry terminal in Prince Rupert is a tale of two economies: the national economy and our local economy. With Canadian politicians of all stripes opposing the investment in our community because of their distaste for “Buy American” restrictions, we fear that relationships that have been built up with our Alaskan neighbors over many decades may be jeopardized. We would like...
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities (ADOT&PF) announced travel fares on the Alaska Marine Highway System will increase 4.5 percent starting May 1. The new fare structure went into effect with the new year, but will not affect reservations already made in advance. Some fares will not be affected by the new structure. The ADOT&PF release said fares that are “disproportionately higher” than the majority of AMHS fares will remain unchanged. The department reports the fare increase will help cover operating costs and mee...
It’s the time of year when Alaska’s fishery meetings kick into high gear - with five set for this week alone. The industry will get a first glimpse of potential 2015 halibut catches when the International Pacific Halibut Commission convenes in Seattle, WA. It’s been a wait and see attitude among fish circles - will Alaska’s catch limits again be reduced, down already 70% over a decade to just 16 million pounds? Or has the Pacific halibut stock started to rebound as some of the science indicates? Tune into the IPHC meetings live via webinar...
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities announced Friday it will be delaying the implementation of its upcoming unaccompanied minor policy for Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) services. The new policy would no longer allow children under the age of 18 to travel unaccompanied on the ferry system. Currently, travelers aged 12 to 15 can show a note from their parents or legal guardians allowing them to travel alone, and no restrictions are in place for those aged 16 and older. Exemptions to the new policy include...
Both candidates to represent Petersburg and other communities in House District 35, Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tompkins and Republican Steven Samuelson, had an easy time arriving at the ballot box this year. Both candidates ran through the primaries unopposed in their respective parties and both are veteran campaigners, with Samuelson making another run at a legislative seat after a defeat in 2010's Republican Primary to Peggy Wilson. Kreiss-Tompkins is the closest to an incumbent, prior to...
