Triangle Community Road

Project Overview and Purpose

The Arctic Strategic Transportation and Resources (ASTAR) program is sponsored by Alaska Department of Natural Resources, Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities, and the North Slope Borough. The mission of the ASTAR program is to identify, evaluate, and advance opportunities to enhance the quality of life and economic opportunities in North Slope communities through responsible infrastructure development. ASTAR’s goal is to prioritize community needs and identify infrastructure opportunities that offer the most cumulative benefit and best enhance the quality of life for the region.

The ASTAR team has chosen a Planning and Environmental Linkage (PEL) study to evaluate an all-season road connecting the communities of Utqiaġvik, Atqasuk, and Wainwright (commonly referred to as the Triangle Community Road). The Triangle Community Road project is the first project recommended as part of the ASTAR program.

Currently, there are no all-season road(s) between the communities of Utqiaġvik, Atqasuk, and Wainwright. This PEL study will identify and evaluate potential routes connecting these communities. This project is anticipated to improve cultural and community connectivity, lower the cost of goods and services, increase health and safety benefits, improve access to education, and advance workforce development opportunities. Additionally, the Triangle Community Road PEL Study team will work with communities to identify and evaluate ways to increase subsistence opportunities and reduce subsistence impacts through project design.

Project History AND PREVIOUS STUDIES COMPLETED

The ASTAR team produced a wide variety of documents, maps, and digital tools from 2018-2020, in an effort to identify potential road alignment alternatives and data gaps.

Input from stakeholder meetings was incorporated into the route options.
Desktop review and initial field studies included:
- LiDAR from Utqiaġvik to Atqasuk
- Gravel resource surveys
- Hydrology studies
- Lake studies
- Weather and snow surveys

The initial desktop analysis (completed in 2019) focused on potential alignments for an all season access road connecting Atqasuk to Utqiaġvik. Recognizing additional benefits could be realized by connecting the community of Wainwright to Utqiaġvik, the ASTAR program funded a 2nd desktop analysis in 2020 to analyze potential road alignments for that segment of the Triangle Community Road.

These two reports can be found in the links provided below:

Atqasuk to Utqiaġvik All Season Access Road (AES Alaska 2019)
Road Network for Utqiaġvik, Atqasuk, and Wainwright (AES Alaska 2020)

The Triangle Community Road PEL Study will build upon this prior work.

Atqasuk to Utqiaġvik

Road Network Report

Data gaps that have been identified, and will be a priority for the PEL study and/or future work to support the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process includes:

Additional geotechnical programs
Hydrology and stream crossing surveys
Wetlands reconnaissance
Cultural resources reconnaissance
LiDAR to Wainwright
Bird and fish studies
Identification of funding opportunities and construction phasing options

For information regarding scheduled community meetings, please visit our Meetings page.

MEETINGS