The Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities (Alaska DOT&PF) is a department within the
government of Alaska
The government of Alaska in common with state and federal governments of the United States, has three separation of powers, branches of government: the executive branch, executive, consisting of the Governor of Alaska and the state agencies; the ...
. Its headquarters are in
Alaska
Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...
's capital city,
Juneau
Juneau ( ; ), officially the City and Borough of Juneau, is the capital of the U.S. state of Alaska, located along the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle. Juneau was named the capital of Alaska in 1906, when the government of wha ...
. The mission of Alaska DOT&PF is to "''Keep Alaska Moving through service and infrastructure.''" The Alaska Department of Transportation was established on July 1, 1977, by Alaska Highway Commissioner
Walter Parker during the administration of
Governor
A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
Jay Hammond
Jay Sterner Hammond (July 21, 1922 – August 2, 2005) was an American politician of the Republican Party, who served as the fourth governor of Alaska from 1974 to 1982. Hammond was born in Troy, New York and served as a Marine Corps fighter pi ...
.
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities merged the former departments of Highways and Public Works.
Alaska DOT&PF designs, constructs, operates and maintains the state's transportation infrastructure systems, buildings, and other facilities used by Alaskans and visitors. These include more than 5,600 miles of paved and gravel highways; more than 300 aviation facilities, including 235 rural airports and 2 international airports (
Fairbanks International Airport
Fairbanks International Airport is a state-owned public-use airport located three miles (5 km) southwest of the central business district of Fairbanks, a city in the Fairbanks North Star Borough of the United States state of Alaska. It i ...
and
Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport
Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is a major airport in the U.S. state of Alaska, located southwest of downtown Anchorage. The airport is named for Ted Stevens, who served as a senator of Alaska from 1968 to 2009. It is included in ...
); 839 public facilities; 21 harbors; and a
ferry system covering 3,500 marine miles serving 33 coastal communities.
Background
The Board of Road Commissioners for Alaska, more commonly known as the
Alaska Road Commission or ARC, was created in 1905 as a board of the
U.S. War Department. It was responsible for the construction and improvement of many important Alaska highways, such as the
Richardson Highway
The Richardson Highway is a highway in the U.S. state of Alaska, running 368 miles (562 km) and connecting Valdez to Fairbanks. It is marked as Alaska Route 4 from Valdez to Delta Junction and as Alaska Route 2 from there to Fairbank ...
,
Steese Highway,
Elliot Highway and
Edgerton Highway, among others.
was the first president of the ARC, from 1905 to 1917.
The commission was transferred to the
Department of the Interior
The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation of most federal lands and natural resources. It also administers programs relatin ...
in 1932, and was absorbed by the Bureau of Public Roads, a division of the
Commerce Department in 1956. Today, responsibility for road development and maintenance in Alaska lies with the Alaska Department of Transportation & Public Facilities.
Organizational structure
The Alaska DOT&PF is administratively divided into three regions, Northern, Central, and Southcoast. The Alaska Marine Highway System, Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, and Fairbanks International Airport are also overseen by Alaska DOT&PF.
The Northern Region, headquartered in
Fairbanks, is the largest, most geographically diverse, and maintains more centerline miles of highway, including the