Transportation

by Jacob Resneck, CoastAlaska A ferry reform bill passed the Alaska House of Representatives 37-0 on Wednesday, with no objections from the floor. But Gov. Mike Dunleavy believes the bill violates the separation of powers clause in the Alaska Constitution. House Bill 63 would create an Alaska Marine Highway Operations Board, which would craft short- and long-term planning for Alaska’s ferry …

February 19, 2021 by Jacob Resneck, CoastAlaska The NTSB says a review of the radar data revealed that the plan was on a southerly track, reaching the edge of the northly land mass at 4:34 p.m. local time. The radar hits continued south at an altitude of about 1,200 ft. About four minutes later, the plane reversed course and heading north-northeast. (Image …

VHF coverage areas around Kodiak. Areas covered by Cape Gull and Raspberry Island are experiencing outages. Due to extreme weather conditions, the VHF radio system across southcentral Alaska has been experiencing outages over the past week. While repairs are ongoing, the US Coast Guard is still unable to receive a consistent VHF signal in many locations, including Raspberry Island, located …

February 10, 2021 by Jacob Resneck, CoastAlaska The ferry LeConte docks at Juneau’s Auke Bay terminal. (Photo by Ed Schoenfeld/CoastAlaska News) An Alaska ferry in Juneau was evacuated early Wednesday after a man drove aboard the vessel claiming he had a bomb. The LeConte was loading around 6:30 a.m. at the Auke Bay terminal for a round-trip sailing to Pelican. That’s when …

The City of Kodiak is in talks with Kodiak Electric Association to add electric vehicle charging stations downtown for Kodiak electric vehicle owners. These charging stations are part of the city’s new focus on electric vehicles, including replacing its motor fleet with electric vehicles. At last weekend’s planning session, the City Council discussed purchasing up to three electric vehicles to …

The Kodiak Island Borough is once again considering a deal with the state of Alaska over the paving of Otmeloi Way, a state-owned road near North Star Elementary School and home to many Service District 1 residents. Funded through a combination of state and federal grants, the state is offering to pave Otmeloi if the Borough takes responsibility for future …

As Kodiak enters the winter season, delays in shipping are becoming more commonplace. This string of recent container ship bypasses was particularly severe, combining unplanned bypasses due to weather with a planned bypass around the Thanksgiving holiday. Michael Murray, store director of the Safeway in Kodiak, says more bypasses of that nature are coming. “There will be two anticipated or …

A long-awaited report on revamping the state ferry system has been finally made public. It comes from the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry Reshaping Working Group, which sent it to the governor three weeks ago. The Ferry Reshaping Working Group recommends major changes for the Alaska Marine Highway The group has been meeting since February, and its mission was to review …

The reduced winter ferry schedule has left communities like Kodiak, Port Lions, Seldovia and Homer dependent on the Kennicott. But this week, the ship is out of commission. The Alaska Marine Highway System says the Kennicott is in Juneau, where technicians are working to fix a mechanical problem. The ferry was supposed to stop in Kodiak on Thursday and then …

Stormy weather in the Gulf of Alaska cancelled the Tustumena’s departure from Homer on Sunday night. In an online notice, the Alaska Marine Highway System said all ports of call scheduled for Monday, Sept. 7 are cancelled due to weather. Had the Tustumena departed Homer as scheduled at 8:45 Sunday night, it would have arrived in Port Lions and Ouzinkie …