Mat-Su has new hopes for federal grant to complete rail extension to port

The Matanuska-Susitna Borough has hopes for a federal infrastructure grant that could complete the partly-build rail track extension from the Alaska Railroad’s main track to the borough’s Port MacKenzie, on upper Cook Inlet. Borough officials met late last summer with U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, a meeting arranged by Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan, and have since learned that the project was ranked high in the U.S. DOT scoring, mainly because so much of the work has been completed. This is under an existing federal infrastructure program and different from the new infrastructure program announced recently by President Donald Trump, which Congress must approve.

The challenge, borough officials admit, is raising the required local match to a federal grant. A $70 million federal grant would still require $50 million in matching funds. Discussions with potential private investors are underway for the match. The borough needs $125 million to complete the project, in which $180 million in state funds have been invested to date. The rail embankment for the 31-mile link is nearly complete and ballast and track have been installed on the segment nearest the tie-in with the Alaska Railroad, which is near Houston in the Mat-Su Borough,

Meanwhile, Mat-Su also hopes to have some business for its Port MacKenzie dock this summer. A timber developer is planning to export round logs using the facility. Meanwhile, repairs to damaged piling at the port is scheduled for later this spring. The borough plans to have a Request for Proposals out soon to do the work.