The quality of maintenance for the North Alaska Highway will be affected by no money from the U.S. for the Shakwak project, says Highways and Public Works Minister Richard Mostyn.

The Yukon government will ensure the section of highway from Haines Junction to the U.S. border past Beaver Creek is maintained to safety standards, Mostyn told the Star.

But there’s no money to deal with fundamental issues like the rolling highway surface caused by heaving permafrost and climate change, he explained.

The minister said it may mean eventually returning to a gravel surface in some sections as opposed to BST.

“There’s hundreds of millions of dollars of work that needs to be done on the north highway,” Mostyn said.

“The territory simply doesn’t have hundreds of millions of dollars to maintain it to the standard to which the Alaskan authorities have come to expect.”

He said the Yukon government will do what it needs to ensure the roadway remains safe and functional for the hundreds of Yukoners who live along the north highway and for Alaskans.

But it doesn’t have the money to undertake any major repair work, Mostyn said.

The last of the Shakwak funding provided by the U.S. was budgeted in the current fiscal year, which will end March 31.

Yukon and Alaskan officials teamed up last fall in a $25-million application to a federal U.S. infrastructure fund but were not successful, Mostyn said, adding they will continue to explore other funding options.

“That application was assessed in December and we did not get the money,” he said.

The Shakwak Agreement dates back to the mid-1970s.

The U.S. agreed to provide funding to the Yukon government to ensure proper upgrades and maintenance of the Haines Highway from Haines Junction to Haines, Alaska, and of the North Alaska Highway from the Junction to the U.S. border past Beaver Creek.

Mostyn said the Alaska Highway – completed in 1942 by the U.S. to provide the only roadway into Alaska during the Second World War – continues to serve as a vital link to the state.

The Yukon says hundreds of thousands of visitors travel to or from Alaska every year along the Alaska Highway. It’s also an important artery for moving U.S. military equipment in and out of the state.

It was not unusual to have annual Shakwak budgets in excess of $20 million provided by the U.S.

Five years ago, for instance, the annual budget was $23 million. It then fell to $12 million, and then to $6 million.

For work last summer, there was $2 million.

But that’s it for U.S. funding so far, Mostyn said.

He said the Yukon has such a small tax base that it doesn’t have a lot of wiggle room when it comes to providing funding to maintain 4,000 kilometres of highway in the territory.