The Alaska Marine Highway System has been awarded $177.4 million to go towards operational costs, bringing WiFi to passengers, and replacing the oldest ferry in the fleet.
Alaska’s Congressional Delegation announced the new funds on Friday.
Alaska Department of Transportation spokesperson Sam Dapcevich said they don’t yet know all the details of how the money will be spent. However, a big portion – $106.4 million – will go towards replacing the 60-year-old Tustumena or “Tusty” that serves Kodiak, Homer, and the Aleutian Islands.
“That caps off our funding needed for the current estimate to replace the Tusty,” Dapcevich said.
The price tag for the project, called TRV for Tustumena Replacement Vessel, is over $315 million. The rest of the cost will come from federal money the state has already received. The ferry build is scheduled to be completed in 2027-28.
$66 million of the new federal funds is going to “support sustainable operations for rural communities.” Dapcevich said the state hasn’t yet determined exactly how that money will be spent, but that it will be used for operational costs.
$5 million is earmarked for setting up WiFi on all the ferries. Starlink is already available for crew and operations, but this would extend internet access to passengers.
“It requires adding access points throughout the vessel – you can’t just drop one router on top and everybody has service,” Dapcevich said. “So, that’ll take some time to, you know, wire everything in, and it would need to be firewalled from operations. So, it’ll take a little bit of time to implement, but I think in the long run, it’ll be a lot like Alaska Airlines, where a person can hop on and have a connection.”
Up until a few years ago, federal funding for Alaska’s ferry system came through the Federal Highway Administration. Now, it’s through the Federal Transit Administration, which Dapcevich said helps separate the ferry system from other transportation needs.
“AMHS used to come out of the same pot as the regular highways and airports and all that, and now it’s coming out of the FTA, which I think is an improvement,” he said.
Recent federal awards come from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which has designated $700 million to Alaska’s ferry projects over the last three years.
Alaska’s Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, and Representative Mary Peltola lauded the latest funding, voicing their support for the marine highway system.
