Transportation

There’s no state ferry service to Prince Rupert this summer, a town in British Columbia around 90 nautical miles from Ketchikan. In the past, ferries ran so often that high schoolers could make a quick trip over to play basketball, old friends got to meet up without missing several days of work, and tourism was lively.

Prince Rupert’s mayor, Herb Pond, says 30 years ago, the ferry ran three or four times a week. But over the years, that’s all changed — there’s not the same level of service — and sometimes there’s none at all.

Pond visited Ketchikan during the Fourth of July festivities and walked in the parade. He met a lot of residents who said they wanted the regular run back. Pond also spoke with KRBD’s Raegan Miller about the situation. He remembers when the service started to go downhill, and how it changed the two towns’ connection.

Listen:

Herb Pond: With the absence of ferry service, I wasn’t sure I was going to make it at all. But I was able to run up with a volunteer search and rescue team that was going up, and so I walked in the parade — and although hardly anyone would have known I was there – but it was great to connect with old friends and make some new acquaintances and we’re certainly going to plan on next year.

Raegan Miller: And did you hear from any Ketchikan residents who wanted to talk to you about what the lack of ferry service has been like for them?

Herb Pond: What I heard from a number of people was, in Alaska ferries won’t come south to Rupert, can you get B.C. ferries to come north to Ketchikan? And I actually got on a bus — there was a reunion, high school reunion, and I think it was a class of ‘63. And so, they remember very much what it was like to come back and forth very freely. And that group was dialed right in, they were. They remembered playing basketball. As a matter of fact, I got on the bus, said I’m the mayor of Prince of Rupert, right away one of them said ‘Rainmakers!’ Which was the Rupert team, so those connections are alive, right, this isn’t ancient history. This is very much in people’s minds. People used to come down to golf in Prince Rupert. All the time.

Raegan Miller: So it sounds like maybe there’s a contingent of people who remember how easy it used to be, and they kind of want that to come back.

Herb Pond: Yeah, I’d love it to come back. I mean, it used to be a nice easy getaway weekend, to be able to board an Alaska (ferry). It was just such good memories, right? My wife and I could get on an Alaska ferry, we would go to the lounge, have an Alaskan Amber and sit and get off and wander the streets of Ketchikan and spend their money there and easily come back home in time to, you know, hardly miss any work at all. And that’s just a long lost memory now.

Raegan Miller: And did you notice anything about Ketchikan or also Prince Rupert since the ferry service started to go away? Have there been any effects on these towns?

Herb Pond: Yeah, there’s no question there’s been a shift in tourism – without doubt. But it’s been a slow dwindling reality for you know, two decades now .The impact of that rubber tire traffic that would do some sort of circle route that usually includes, you know, the Alaska Highway up through the Yukon and, you know, maybe into Skagway and down onto the marine highway system. That has dwindled and dwindled and dwindled over the years in Prince Rupert. It used to be a significant part of the tourism business in Prince Rupert, used to be a big part of the hotel business in Prince Rupert. It has really fallen off over the years.

Raegan Miller: And do you think that there are ways to reconnect even if the ferry service doesn’t fall into place?

Herb Pond: It’s going to be difficult. You know, over the years, a number of people have tried small airlines and floatplane service. But shy of that robust and affordable form of transportation, it’s hard to imagine.

Dakotah Hendricks from Virginia Beach, Va., made sure she did everything right in order to visit her husband, who is deployed overseas, this summer.

She filed an application for a new passport months in advance and paid for expedited processing. She spent hours on the phone with the passport hotline and even sought help from her local congressman. But four months later, Hendricks had no choice but to miss her flight.

“I applied for this with enough cushion room for there to be delays,” she told NPR. “But that didn’t matter.”

Across the country, long-awaited reunions and hard-earned vacations are being upended by what the State Department described as an “unprecedented demand for passports.”

In March, the department said standard processing time for a new or renewed passport could take up to 13 weeks. But many passport seekers are finding that the wait is well beyond that — leaving trips abroad compromised and travelers scrambling for refunds on airfare and lodging.

The State Department says it receives about 400,000 applications each week

The stubborn passport delays are, in part, a consequence of the pandemic. As the health crisis has waned, interest in international travel has picked up in turn — causing a surge in applications for new or renewed passports.

As of July, the State Department receives about 400,000 applications each week, which is only slightly lower than the record-setting volume of 500,000 applications received per week between January and May.

Last year, the U.S. issued 22 million passports, a historic high — and is expected to once again surpass the record this year.

A spokesperson for the State Department said they are hiring more staff and authorizing overtime to keep up with the demand. The department also plans to launch a website for online passport renewal applications by the end of the year. The online option is expected to help process about a quarter of applications.

Long wait times and thousands of dollars lost

Keisha Peterson from Maryland spent a year saving up over $3,000 for a vacation in the Bahamas — her 9-year-old daughter’s first trip abroad. They planned to leave on Sunday.

But instead of packing, Peterson said she is finding out whether she can get a voucher or credit for their flights, because her daughter’s passport did not come in time.

“I’m feeling disappointed, devastated, frustrated and just emotionally drained,” she told NPR. “It should not be this hard to get a passport.”

Peterson filed her daughter’s application in March. Two weeks ago, she learned that she was missing some paperwork. After submitting the proper documents, Peterson learned on Friday that the department made a mistake about which documents they needed.

The only silver lining, Peterson said, was that her daughter did not know about the trip or that it was canceled, because it was meant to be a surprise.

“What she doesn’t know can’t hurt her,” she said.

Meanwhile, Hendricks rescheduled her flight to a Mediterranean country, where she and her husband planned to meet, for mid-July. Up until recently, Hendricks, a former member of the U.S. Navy, did not need a passport because service members do not need one when they are sent abroad.

Hendricks said if she does not have her passport by then, she will have lost about $2,500 and will be unable to see her husband until he returns from deployment at the end of the year.

“It’s my only chance,” she said. “The way his schedule works, I don’t get a redo.”

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

White Pass and Yukon Route rail workers voted last week to authorize a strike. The railway is Skagway’s biggest employer and one of the most popular tourist attractions in Southeast Alaska.

Jason Guiler, who chairs the local chapter of the union that represents White Pass’s 27 Alaska-based engineers, conductors and brakemen, said the vote “was overwhelmingly supported by the body.”

“I think that many of the group feel that it’s unfortunate that at this point, that company has yet to come forward with a recognition of the wages that we do deserve,” he said.

In a press release, union Vice President Brent Leonard said the railroad’s pay has not kept up with the cost of living.

“Six years is far too long for these families to go without normal raises,” he said in the release. “Many of these men and women leave their homes and families for several months of the year in order to work for this railroad.”

A strike will not happen right away. Negotiations are bound by the Railway Labor Act, which requires mediation and a 30-day cooling-off period before workers could strike.

But the union says negotiations are “in limbo” after a negotiating session over the holiday weekend failed to resolve what the union describes as a 6-year dispute over compensation, staffing and safety.

“As we met through the weekend, there were points in time that seemed as though we were starting to make some movements,” Guiler said. “But unfortunately, in the end on Sunday, it ended in a stalemate.”

Guiler says the union members want to keep working, but they also want recognition for the work they do. 

“It’s an opportunity to be able to participate in these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and experiences with these guests who come to visit Skagway and Alaska,” he said. “The brakeman and engineer position is something that we love to do.”

As of Friday morning, representatives of the railroad had not responded to a request for an interview.

A small plane crashed near the village of Old Harbor – on the southeast side of Kodiak Island – on Sunday afternoon. The Piper Cherokee crashed just 6 minutes into its flight; it was reported at 3:30 p.m.

Five people were aboard when it went down about three miles north of Old Harbor on Sunday, according to the Coast Guard.

Two people are reported to be dead. Three survivors were found at the crash site. One person was in critical condition and taken by helicopter to Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center. Two others were injured but in stable condition. Survivors were transported by a good Samaritan Cessna to awaiting medical personnel. Alaska State Troopers also assisted in the call.

A Coast Guard spokesperson said they were unable to provide any additional information about the survivors or deceased on Monday morning.

Clint Johnson is the Alaska region chief for the National Transportation Safety Board, which is leading the investigation into the crash.

“Preliminary information would indicate that they were on their way back from a lodge in Old Harbor, back to Kodiak. As far as the flight, we don’t know exactly what it was,” he said.

During investigations, the NTSB looks for possible causes categorized as human performance, mechanical issues, or environment and weather.

The plane was operated by Kodiak-based Vertigo Air Taxi. The company declined to comment on Monday.

Johnson said it’s too early to speculate the cause of the crash.

“It’s a process of elimination – nothing has been eliminated at this point right now,” he said.

NTSB meteorologists are already looking into weather patterns in the area at the time of the crash. Johnson said they will also question survivors and the pilot as part of the investigation. Preliminary reports will be published on the board’s website in the next two weeks.

This post has been updated. Brian Venua contributed reporting.

The City and Borough of Juneau has received $16.5 million in federal funding to complete final designs for a second Juneau-Douglas crossing.

Katie Koester, Juneau’s director of engineering and public works, said that boost will carry the project through the planning phase. 

“This is enough money to bring it all the way through the environmental analysis, through the design process, to get it construction-ready,” she said.

The proposed crossing would create a new route between Juneau and Douglas to supplement the existing bridge. According to the city, the project would create an easier commute for more than 5,000 residents that live on Douglas Island while opening access to undeveloped city and tribal land on North Douglas. 

The city and the Alaska Department of Transportation have been studying five possible routes for the crossing, at Mendenhall Peninsula, Sunny Point, Vanderbilt Hill Road, Twin Lakes and Salmon Creek. 

According to Koester, it will take a year or more to narrow down those options.

“Great progress has been made, great momentum, but the project is far from a sure thing,” she said. “And we’ll need a lot of public engagement to get it there.” 

The five routes will be presented and discussed at public meetings over the next year before a final design will be considered.

Once a preferred route is selected, the new federal money will fund the development of final design plans and an environmental review, which is required under the National Environmental Policy Act. 

The funding — which was awarded through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant — will supplement $7 million in federal funds awarded for the project earlier this year. 

The funding will not cover any of the construction costs, and the project is still far from breaking ground. The idea of a second crossing has been in discussion since the 1980s, without much progress. But in 2020, city and state transportation officials began planning again. 

The new funding comes from a larger pot of money — $27.8 million — that was awarded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law mainly for roads for rural Alaska communities. Those include road improvements for Kake and Petersburg and more than 100 miles of new roads to connect villages near Bristol Bay.

Yamaha Motor Company — the Japanese manufacturer of motorcycles, boats, and other recreational vehicles — announced Wednesday that they were phasing out their snowmachines. After over five decades since the first Yamaha snowmachine model was released, the company said they plan to end sales of the machines in North America after the 2025 model year.

In a statement, the Japanese company said it aimed to grow its business through more environmentally friendly motors, and it would “be difficult to continue a sustainable business in the snowmobile market.”

For many Alaskans, especially those living in Northern Alaska, snowmachines are an essential part of winter travel. That’s especially true for rural communities not connected by roads.

For some, snowmachines serve a recreational purpose. Mike Vasser is the executive director for  Iron Dog — billed as “the world’s longest and toughest snowmobile race.” The 2,500 mile course begins in Big Lake and travels north to the Seward Peninsula and Northwest Arctic before circling back. Vasser says the Yamaha phase out would have little effect on the Iron Dog Race.

“It shouldn’t have any impact on us,” he said. “We haven’t had the Yamaha sled entered in the race for at least seven years, I think. Nor have they been a sponsor.”

While Vasser called the move a “sad day for the snowmobile industry,” he’s not really losing sleep over it.

“I’m personally a Yamaha vintage collector and have been for a long, long time,” he said. “So in my opinion, the value of my sled just went through the roof because they’re not gonna be available anymore.”

Yamaha thanked their dealers and customers for years of loyalty. They said parts, availability and maintenance service will be available after the final production run in 2025.

Yamaha’s new 2024 snowmachine models are in production and scheduled for fall delivery.