newsminer.com

JUNEAU — The Senate Finance Committee on Friday OKed a plan to issue $315 million in bonds for more than two dozen transportation projects around the state, including a number of local projects.

The bond package includes $30 million for a project to widen University Avenue in Fairbanks and $15 million for traffic improvements on the Steese Highway and Johansen Expressway. It also includes $14 million for improvements on the Dalton Highway.

The plan still has to pass the full Senate, get approved by the House and win the support of Gov. Sarah Palin.

Palin initiated the bond package, but with a smaller number of projects and a total cost of $140 million. Lawmakers in the House and Senate added projects to bring the total to more than twice that.

The newest version added funding for University Avenue, $20 million for a bridge in Aleknagik, $5 million for a harbor in Wrangell, and money for docks in Ouzinkie and Old Harbor, among other things.

Sen. Joe Thomas, a Democrat from Fairbanks and member of the committee, said Friday he was happy with the package.

“It certainly addresses some needed projects in the Fairbanks area,” he said. “We’ve been struggling with University Avenue for a long time.”

The University Avenue widening project includes replacing the bridge over the Chena River and is expected to cost $71 million in all. The $30 million in bonds and another $5 million in the state’s capital budget would almost completely cover the first stage of the project.

Palin’s chief of staff, Mike Tibbles, said Friday he wasn’t sure how Palin felt about the larger package.

“It seems a little high,” he said.

Because the bill involves bonds rather than direct appropriations, Palin would not have the right to veto individual items from the bill.

The bond package would also have to be approved by the public at the next general election.

The bill is HB 314.