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The Juneau Access Project, under which the state intends to build a road between Juneau and Skagway, will receive $2 million from the spending bill.

It is uncertain specifically how the money will be spent, according to Department of Transportation preconstruction engineer Pat Kemp. He said the project to extend Glacier Highway about three miles from Echo Cove to Cascade Point, where a ferry dock will be built for the proposed Kensington Mine, already has a funding source.

"The road to Cascade Point is already funded under the Industrial Roads Program," Kemp said.

Kemp said the state is aiming to release the Juneau Access environmental impact statement by mid-December.

A DOT analysis of the omnibus spending bill also set aside $1.8 million for Juneau bridge repair and upgrades, Kemp said. But he was unsure whether the money was intended for planning a second bridge crossing between Juneau and Douglas Island or for renovations to the existing Douglas Bridge.

Kemp said the renovations of the Douglas Bridge - including the addition of a roundabout, widening of street corners and adding a third reversible lane - is already funded through the State Transportation Improvement Project, commonly referred to as STIP.

"If this is earmarked for that project, we could pull our regular STIP money back and fund it with this money," Kemp said.

An appropriation of almost $10.3 million will be competed for by the Alaskan and Hawaiian state ferry systems, Kemp said. The appropriation is known as discretionary money and will be divvied up by the two states.

Another $1.2 million is headed to the Juneau International Airport.

Patty deLaBruere, airport business manager and spokesperson, said she is uncertain how the money will be used but added that the airport has a list of capital improvement projects that need funding.

"There's just a ton of projects out there," she said.

Fencing and street upgrades, runway expansion and other renovations are among many projects on the airport's wish list, she said. Any improvement plans first must be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Other appropriations listed in the spending bill include $1 million for Juneau bus replacement; $2 million for Skagway bus terminal development; $1 million for Craig roads; $1.5 million for Louis Reef Road and Boswick Lake Road on Gravina Island in Ketchikan; and $500,000 for Craig/Klawock Airport improvements.

The state often must return to the congressional delegation to clarify its members intentions on how to spend the money, said Jeff Ottesen, planning chief for the Department of Transportation.

"We don't want to build something they didn't intend," he said.

This could be the last transportation money the country sees for months. Congress has failed for two years to agree on a transportation reauthorization spending bill, Ottesen said.

He said the transportation bill is normally reauthorized every six years, but under the new Con¼gress, which will be sworn in next year, the 1,000-plus-page funding bills in the U.S. House and Senate will have to run through the committee process again.