00                      SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 41                                                                    
01 Relating to reconstruction and paving of the Alaska Highway.                                                            
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
03       WHEREAS the United States and Canada have entered into an agreement to                                          
04 reconstruct and pave the Alaska Highway from the Alaska-Canada border to Haines Junction,                               
05 Yukon Territory, Canada, and the Haines Cutoff Highway from Haines Junction, Yukon                                      
06 Territory, Canada, to the Alaska-Canada border near Haines, Alaska, known as the Shakwak                                
07 Project, as authorized in the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1973; and                                                      
08       WHEREAS the Congress authorized $59,000,000 in 1973 for the project and has                                     
09 appropriated $47,000,000 to the Federal Highway Administration for actual construction by                               
10 Canada; and                                                                                                             
11       WHEREAS the Congress has further authorized $20,000,000 a year for fiscal years                                 
12 1993 - 1996 under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, which has                               
13 been fully appropriated; and                                                                                            
14       WHEREAS the Congress further authorized $18,800,000 a year for fiscal years 1998                                
15 - 2002 under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, of which $84,900,000 has                               
16 been appropriated; and                                                                                                  

01       WHEREAS, in the last 21 years, the state has provided $37,000,000 of state federal-                             
02 aid highway apportionments to assist in meeting the obligations of the agreement; and                                   
03       WHEREAS the estimated amount necessary to complete the entire project was in the                                
04 order of $260,000,000 in United States dollars;                                                                         
05       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the United                               
06 States government and the Canadian government to honor their agreement and provide the                                  
07 additional funds necessary through direct federal appropriations, independent of the federal                            
08 funds apportioned to Alaska by the Federal Highway Administration, to complete the                                      
09 remaining portions of the Shakwak project; and be it                                                                    
10       FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States Congress is respectfully requested to                                   
11 immediately appropriate an additional $45,000,000 to allow reconstruction of the remaining                              
12 18 miles of the Alaska Highway to a bituminous surface treatment standard and to replace                                
13 four bridges in order to meet the serviceability requirements of the highway.                                           
14       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Right Honourable Jean Chretien, Prime                            
15 Minister of Canada; the Honourable Don Boudria, Minister of Public Works and Government                                 
16 Services Canada; the Honourable Larry Bagnell, Member of Parliament, House of Commons,                                  
17 Canada; the Honourable Pat Duncan, Premier, Yukon Territory, Canada; the Honourable                                     
18 Dennis Schneider, Speaker, Legislative Assembly, Yukon Territory, Canada; the Honourable                                
19 Scott Kent, Minister of Infrastructure, Yukon Territory, Canada; the Honorable George W.                                
20 Bush, President of the United States; the Honorable Richard B. Cheney, Vice-President of the                            
21 United States and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of                             
22 the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable Norman Y. Mineta, United States Secretary                              
23 of Transportation; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski,                                  
24 U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska                                  
25 delegation in Congress.