A six-bill appropriations package passed the U.S. Senate last week, and Petersburg is slated to get a piece of the pie. The “minibus” package dedicates just over $4 million of Department of Transportation funding to the construction of a boat haulout in Scow Bay, about three miles south of town. The $4.1 million is a step up from the previous $3.5 million included in the House bill.
At the moment, mariners who need to pull larger vessels out of the water only have two options in Petersburg. They can pull their boats up a ramp with a trailer, or they can use the marine railway at a private boat shop, which is limited to just a few boats at a time. Otherwise, they have to take their boats to facilities in Wrangell, Hoonah, or Juneau.
Petersburg Borough Manager Steve Giesbrecht says the $4 million will cover almost half the total cost of the haulout. In 2017, Petersburg’s Economic Development Council set their sights on building the boat haulout to improve local options for repairs, and voters agreed to put half a million dollars towards that idea.
There is a final barrier the project still has to cross: it still has to pass a federal review of the Alaska State Transportation Improvement Program, or STIP. Last month, Alaska became the first-ever state to have its four-year transportation plan rejected by the federal government.
