Extending rail line at Port Mackenzie: the next great investment for Alaskans.

• Author: Henry, Lee
• Position: INVESTING IN ALASKA: OP-ED

Google is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on large-scale infrastructure by building deep-ocean, wind-energy generating platforms even though it probably already is, pound for pound, the most profitable company on the planet. China is spending billions on roads and bridges when they have already become an economic superpower rivaling Japan, Europe and the United States. Yale and Harvard, managed by some of the best minds in the investment community today, allocate a large percentage of their investment dollars toward infrastructure projects. All of these companies are placing capital into large-scale infrastructure because these are the types of investments that pay off in a way very few other investments can match.

Do we need more jobs in Alaska that pay better than minimum wage and do we need a greater degree of independence from the vagaries of the oil market? If our answer to these questions is yes, then we should consider which infrastructure projects will provide these benefits. The first one that comes to mind is the extension of the Alaska Railroad to Port MacKenzie (Port Mac for short.) If you have any doubts about this project, just think about how the American West was really won, not by horse or stagecoach, but by a transcontinental railway system built right after the Civil War and still used today.

Initial funding was provided by the Alaska State Legislature last year for the extension of the railroad to Port Mac from the railroad's main line. Gov. Scan Parnell has included additional funding for it in his initial budget request for the upcoming fiscal year. The project, when completed in 2014, will probably cost around $250 million and will generate hundreds of construction jobs in the process. When the project is finished, the new line will provide rail service from the Interior to tidewater at Port Mac on the west side of Cook Inlet in the Mat-Su Borough.

IMPORTANT INVESTMENT

The rail extension at Port Mac is important because our investment in this class of infrastructure will provide enormous benefits for Alaska and Alaskans for the next 100 years. If estimates made by its supporters are anywhere close to correct, the new rail extension will eventually...