Regardless of the merits of the Juneau road project, one fact sticks out.  DOT has consistently underestimated its costs, and has been very slow to update cost projections for construction and maintenance of the road.

First of all, the last DOT cost estimate for the project, which is already obsolete, was $574 million, not the $552 million in the op-ed.  $22 million may be chump change to some, but not to me.

Second, at one time during the project "planning," the cost of ferries dedicated to run between the end of the new road and Haines and Skagway were appropriately included in the project costs.  Then, when the Alaska Class ferry was initially designed to be able to serve the entire AMHS service area, the ferry costs were deleted. Then a re-design occurred, and the new ferries will be Juneau Access day boats only; their costs have never been added back to the project, however.

Bottom line: It is closer to a $1 billion project in today's dollars.