Alaska voters will consider a $453 million transportation bond measure next month that has stirred controversy.
According to the Anchorage Daily News, the measure includes $50 million for the city’s troubled port modernization project even though voters won’t know the details of a study on whether the billion-dollar project can be built as designed.
The city’s mayor, port officials and other city officials have been briefed on the study paid for by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration, the lead agency on the project, the newspaper said.
But city officials had to sign confidentiality agreements at the direction of the agency.
The details of the draft study will not be made public until Nov. 9, after the Nov. 2 election, according to the paper.
The replacement project has already been marred by problems and cost overruns, the Daily News reported.
The cost of the expansion project has tripled since 2005 to about $1.2 billion and has stalled because of construction problems and a lack of funding.
