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(Fairbanks) -- The Department of Transportation and Public Facilities on Thursday withdrew permit applications at the U.S. Corp of Engineers and the Alaska Department of Natural Resources for the Stampede Road Improvement Project. The project is on hold while the department reevaluates this proposal with other competing Northern Region DOT&PF transportation needs, said Northern Region Acting Director Howard Thies.

The $5 million state-funded project would have upgraded 6.5 miles of a recreational trail beyond Eight Mile Lake to the Savage River. Additional $9 million in funding to cross the Savage River and upgrade an additional two miles to the Teklanika River was not authorized by the legislature.

“It is important that we prioritize our limited General Fund resources in a way that contributes to motorist safety and traffic congestion relief,” Thies said. “Recreational roads such as the Stampede Road project are going to have to demonstrate a greater need in this time of fiscal constraint.”

For more information contact Shannon McCarthy, Information Officer, DOT&PF Northern Region at (907) 451-2240.