Arctic transportation infrastructure needs: ports and roads from barrow to anchorage.

• Author: Stricker, Julie
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Arctic Oil & Gas

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An Alaska road map is barren by Lower 48 standards. Most of the roads in the 49th State are concentrated in the most-populous Southcentral region, with two highways connecting Fairbanks and Anchorage. One of those turns to the east and Canada. The other heads north, ending on the shores of the Arctic Ocean amid the industrial development of Alaska's oil fields. Outside of this corridor, the map is mostly blank.

Despite current low oil prices, most of Alaska's budget is still based on the output of the oilfields in the far north. But there is only the one road, mostly gravel, leading to it, and a handful of airfields. The port that serves most of Alaska, including the oilfields, is hundreds of miles to the south and more than fifty years old.

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Alaska has no deepwater ports to serve Arctic shipping, which is increasing as sea ice diminishes. The increased traffic, which this summer includes an 820-foot luxury cruise ship attempting to navigate the Northwest Passage, concerns Alaska residents along the coasts who depend on the plants and animals in the region for subsistence. They also see the increased traffic as an opportunity for economic development, if they can build the infrastructure to support it.

Rex Rock Sr., president and CEO of ASRC (Arctic Slope Regional Corporation), says the North Slope's lack of infrastructure is holding the region back economically.

ASRC, along with six village corporations from the North Slope, formed Arctic Inupiat Offshore (AIO) LLC in 2014 to pursue a strategic partnership with Shell and act as a unified voice for North Slope communities. With Shell pulling anchor from its offshore ambitions in the Chukchi Sea after failing to find commercial quantities of oil, AIO is continuing to work for economic development in the region.

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"I think we need everything the outside world has already," Rock says. "We do need roads. They would lower the prices on everything as far as freight.... I think a train would really help. We need everything just like everybody else."

A deepwater port is another pressing need, especially given the increase in traffic through the Northwest Passage and the Northeast Passage over Russia, he says. A deepwater port near Barrow would allow the US Coast Guard to station cutters there, improve search and rescue operations, and support onshore and offshore drilling, he says.

Anthony Edwardsen, president and CEO of the village corporation for Barrow, Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation, also a member of AIO, says there has been talk of deepwater port near Barrow. And while reports have tagged both Nome and Port Clarence north of Nome as potential sites for a port, both are still hundreds of miles from the North Slope. "We do have a plan that we've put together and we've shared it with the governor of Alaska," Edwardsen says. "We're really pushing forward for a deep port."

A major obstacle to building roads and infrastructure on the North Slope are the widespread public interest lands, says Teresa Imm, general manager of AIO and director of resource development for ASRC. For instance, building a road to Anaktuvuk Pass would require going through Gates of the Arctic National Park; Kaktovik lies on the outskirts of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; and...