Last week, the state transportation department issued an open call for contractors to provide “Eminent Domain Appraisal Review Services” for an 11-mile section of the Seward Highway. That call is part of ongoing efforts to upgrade the road, including the stretch that runs through the middle of Moose Pass.
The request garnered the attention of residents on social media. But project officials say the reference to eminent domain is misleading. Justin Shelby is the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities’ administrative operations manager for Alaska’s central region.
“We do want to dispel any unwarranted concerns at this point,” he said Monday. “I know that having eminent domain there in the solicitation is a concern for people. And just to be clear, eminent domain is not being exercised at this time.”
Eminent domain refers to government seizure of private property for the public interest. In order to get the highway project done, the state needs pieces of private property that flank the road through Moose Pass.
The Seward Highway MP 25.5 to 36 Rehabilitation Project aims to upgrade the Seward Highway from where it intersects with the Sterling Highway to almost the Trail River Campground. In the 75 years since the road was built, it hasn’t had a lot of improvements. The project would target rutted pavement, poor drainage and faded road markings.
The department drew backlash from Moose Pass residents in 2022. Many agreed the road could use a makeover. But they worried about impacts to residential septic systems, parking availability and disruption of the community’s old town feel.
Chris Bentz is the project manager. He says his team adjusted the project scope to address community concerns.
“A combination of those things – narrow right of way and the desire to build nice, easily maintainable, good storage ditches – resulted in just about every property through all of Moose Pass being impacted with some amount of an acquisition made,” he said. “So the concession we made was twofold: shallowing some ditches to some degree and making them a little steeper.”
But he says that concession will come with its own price. Part of the reason the road is so rough through Moose Pass is its proximity to mountains. The highway gets battered with a lot of runoff, which big roadside ditches are intended to capture. Without the big ditches, Bentz says they’ll use a combination of underground drainage and increased snow removal maintenance to keep it clear.
Bentz also says references to eminent domain in the proposal are misleading. He says eminent domain is a last resort, sometimes resulting in years of negotiations with property owners.
“If somebody continues to talk to us and is continuing to negotiate in good faith, then we don’t exercise eminent domain,” he said. “We won’t do that.”
In a best-case scenario, Bentz says construction would start in 2027. He hopes to finish appraisal work this summer and spend the next two years acquiring the property needed. He says pieces of more than 60 pieces of land need to be acquired. Most of those are so-called “sliver takes” — narrow strips of land along the edge of a property abutting the project footprint.
Moose Pass residents should expect to get letters – and, in some cases, visits – from state transportation officials this summer as part of the contracted review.
More information about highway rehab efforts can be found on the project website.
