KEY POINTS
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The Alaska House approved a capital budget totaling about $2.51 billion, with roughly $1.84 billion expected from federal receipts.
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The largest construction categories include $323.4 million for drinking water and wastewater work, $148.3 million for K-12 school repairs and construction, and $42.5 million for University of Alaska projects.
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The finance package is larger than last year’s lean capital plan, but it still does not erase Alaska’s long-running deferred-maintenance backlog.
The Alaska House has advanced a roughly $2.5 billion capital budget for fiscal 2027, pushing forward a construction package centered on repairs, public facilities, and federally backed infrastructure work statewide.
The Alaska Beacon reported on May 15, 2026, that the House passed the bill 24-16 and sent it back to the Senate, which had previously approved its own version 19-0. Senate aides told the Beacon they did not expect senators to object to the House’s additions.
Heavy Civil and Facility Work Dominate
Transportation and public facilities account for the largest share of the House budget, at about $1.65 billion. Much of that work is tied to federally supported highways, airports, ferries, bridges and pavement programs.
The budget also directs $323.4 million to drinking water and wastewater infrastructure through the Department of Environmental Conservation. K-12 school repair and construction projects total $148.3 million, and University of Alaska projects total $42.5 million.
One closely watched transportation item, the West Susitna Access Road, appears in the House budget at about $47.5 million after lawmakers restored part of its funding.
The West Susitna Access Road is a proposed 22-mile gravel corridor that would extend Alaska’s highway system west of the Susitna River, opening access to more than 6 million acres of state land through new bridges, river access points, and connections intended to support recreation and economic activity.
An image of the West Susitna Access Road project that would extend Alaska’s highway system west of the Susitna River, opening access to more than 6 million acres of state land. Image: Alaska Department of Transportation
Maintenance Still Leads the Market
The package remains weighted toward maintenance and rehabilitation rather than major new state-funded expansion. Alaska’s deferred-maintenance backlog was reported at over $2 billion for its fiscal year 2025. Alaska Beacon’s earlier reporting showed lawmakers focusing limited capital dollars on deferred maintenance and projects needed to unlock larger pools of federal money, and that pattern still shapes this year’s budget.
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