Alaska

Top Three Infrastructure Concerns:

  1. Roads
  2. Energy
  3. Bridges

Key Infrastructure Facts

  • 35% of Alaska’s bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete.
  • There are 18 high hazard dams in Alaska. A high hazard dam is defined as a dam whose failure would cause a loss of life and significant property damage.
  • 22 of Alaska’s 82 dams are in need of rehabilitation to meet applicable state dam safety standards.
  • 39% of high hazard dams in Alaska have no emergency action plan (EAP). An EAP is a predetermined plan of action to be taken including roles, responsibilities and procedures for surveillance, notification and evacuation to reduce the potential for loss of life and property damage in an area affected by a failure or mis-operation of a dam.
  • Alaska’s drinking water infrastructure needs an investment of $682 million over the next 20 years.
  • Alaska ranked 48th in the quantity of hazardous waste produced and 42nd in the total number of hazardous waste producers.
  • Alaska’s ports handled 61 million tons of waterborne traffic in 2005, ranking it 16th in the nation.
  • Alaska reported an unmet need of $2.6 million for its state public outdoor recreation facilities and parkland acquisition.
  • 46% of Alaska’s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition.
  • Vehicle travel on Alaska’s highways increased 30 percent from 1990 to 2007.

Sources

*Survey of the state’s ASCE members conducted in September 2008

Deficient Bridge Report, Federal Highway Administration, 2008.National Inventory of Dams, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2008.
Drinking Water Needs Survey and Assessment, Environmental Protection Agency, 2003.National Biennial RCRA Hazardous Waste Report, Environmental Protection Agency, 2007.The U.S. Waterway System Transportation Facts, Navigation Data Center, U.S Army Corps of Engineers, February 2007.
2007 Annual Report, Land and Water Conservation Fund State Assistance Program, National Park Service.
TRIP Fact Sheet, March 2009.
Clean Water Needs Survey, Environmental Protection Agency, 2004.