The Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly will consider a resolution next week asking the Legislature for money to conduct an environmental impact study.
Assemblyman Hank Bartos said the proposed route takes the railroad into Fairbanks alongside or down the middle of the Parks Highway.
From there, the railroad would cross the Chena River where the Parks Highway crosses the river and head to the Tanana River, following it for awhile before looping north to the Richardson Highway and heading to North Pole.
Private business interests have objected to the route in the past.
Bartos said other proposed routes are still on the table, and the rail safety group will support whatever route is deemed the best by the environmental impact study.
The assemblyman plans to ask for $10 million from the state to find the EIS. He initially had wanted $2 million for the study.
The Borough Assembly also will take up a resolution asking the Legislature to transfer railroad land along the Chena River to the Fairbanks North Star Borough.
The railroad rents the land to Ice Alaska, host of the world ice art competitions. The rent is set to double in April, and an Ice Alaska official said the organization can no longer afford the land.
Contact staff writer Amanda Bohman at 459-7544.
If You Go
The Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday in the Borough Assembly chambers, 809 Pioneer Road.
The borough will consider asking the Alaska Legislature to transfer railroad land to the borough as a site for Ice Alaska.
There are a lot of worthless non profits up here but this one speaks of Fairbanks, if we loose it someone else will pick it up next year and its gone for good. You guys (and Gals) better get on the ball...
Although it's probably a good idea to move the potential for future HazMat incidences out of the middle of town [where the prevailing winds would carry anything airborn right across downtown], the cost of clean-up should be taken into consideration in any land-swap deal.
And if this isn't being considered, I'd suspect land-speculator hanky-panky, perhaps an attempt to shift some costs of profit-making developement onto the taxpayers' shoulders? As appears to have been the case with the big box store properties' road/access situation.
The City gets the land north of the river, and the railroad gets a lower tax rate on land south of the city. It appears to me that the city is growing northward while the south area tends to be industrial anyway. With the railroad in the south, new apartments would spring up next to Phillips Field Road along with new support business, improving the tax base. Much of the land north of Philips Field Road is underutilized by the railroad and could be put to better use.
Vote from here is 'GO' on the proposal.
Rail is very vital and the most cost effective means of transport. This is a move in the right direction. And it will happen.