Why am I in Alaska?

I am living and working in Anchorage, Alaska as a National Park Foundation Scholar with the Alaska Region of the National Park Service. Each year the National Park Foundation Transportation Scholar program pairs transportation professionals with park service units facing transportation issues.

Last year I spent 7 amazing months as a scholar at Gulf Islands National Seashore in Florida, working on an alternative transportation plan for a hurricane-prone area of the park. This year I find myself at the opposite corner of the country, working at a very different scale of transportation planning.

I will be working with the Alaska Region of the National Park Service (NPS) on a long range transportation plan (LRTP). The most recent surface transportation bill requires that federal land management agencies (FLMAs) conduct LRTPs similar to those conducted by states and metropolitan planning organizations. The FLMAs in Alaska are in a unique position to work together to satisfy the LRTP requirement because they all share an administrative boundary- the state of Alaska.