Alaska is not like the rest of the country. Anyone who lives here knows that. Our size, climate, terrain, and distance from markets make easy comparisons meaningless. What works in the Lower 48 often fails here, not because Alaskans lack initiative, but because private capital alone is rarely willing to take on the risk of building infrastructure across vast, remote regions. That reality is not ideological. It is geographic.

That is why responsible, fully vetted public investment in Alaska infrastructure matters. Often, that investment comes through public-private partnerships. When structured correctly, these projects do what they are supposed to do. They create jobs, generate revenue, strengthen communities, and pay themselves back. This is not theory. Alaska has lived it.

The Dalton Highway is a good place to start. Built in the 1970s as the North Slope Haul Road, it was financed entirely by private oil companies to support construction of the Trans Alaska Pipeline. British Petroleum and other foreign and domestic firms paid for it for a simple reason. The oil at Prudhoe Bay was unreachable without a road. At the time, Alaska did not have the financial capacity, engineering depth, or political ability to build something like that on its own.

That private investment came with limits, including restricted public access. Over time, Alaska assumed ownership and maintenance. Eventually, the road was opened to the public. What followed changed this state.

The return on that infrastructure has been enormous. Oil production made possible by the Dalton Highway and the pipeline funded state government for decades. It built the Permanent Fund. It paid dividends to Alaskans year after year. None of that happens without a road across some of the most challenging terrain on the continent. Private capital built it. Public stewardship sustained it. Alaskans benefited.

Red Dog Mine is an even clearer example of how state investment works when it is disciplined and accountable. In the late 1980s, AIDEA financed the DeLong Mountain Transportation System, a road and port that made development of one of the largest zinc mines in the world possible. The mine sits on land owned by NANA Regional Corporation. The operator pays tolls that fully repay the state’s investment. Despite the initial capital infusion and some risk, the state carries no long-term burden today.

The benefits are easy to measure. Hundreds of high-wage jobs in a remote region. Royalties to NANA that are shared statewide under ANCSA. The Northwest Arctic Borough receives the majority of its operating revenue from Red Dog. This project has worked for decades because the deal was carefully vetted, structured properly, and kept under Alaska control.

The proposed Ambler Road follows the same model. The Ambler Mining District contains significant deposits of copper, zinc, cobalt, and other critical minerals the United States currently imports from foreign adversaries. Congress recognized the importance of access when it included provisions in ANILCA requiring a transportation corridor to Ambler.

Under AIDEA’s framework, the road could be financed with bonds and repaid through tolls paid by mining operators. Alaskans are not being asked to subsidize production. The risk is managed. The upside stays in Alaska through jobs, royalties, local government revenue, and shared ANCSA benefits. That is exactly how public-private partnerships are supposed to work. Projects like the West Susitna Access Road are built on the same principle, strategic access paired with repayment mechanisms that protect taxpayers while unlocking long-term economic value.

Here is the inconsistency that never seems to get addressed. Some people want the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation to push harder, chase higher returns, and take on more risk in global markets. I do as well. At the same time, those same voices oppose infrastructure investment at home because it might carry risk for Alaskans. That does not add up. We are willing to risk money in markets we do not control, but unwilling to invest in infrastructure right here at home? The issue is not risk. It is whether we are willing to manage it wisely and demand a return for Alaskans.

Some critics also focus on the involvement of foreign companies in Alaska infrastructure development. That misses the point. What matters is not the flag on the balance sheet. What matters is who controls the terms. In these projects, Alaska does. Contracts, tolls, permits, and oversight are set by Alaskans under Alaska law. No company extracts Alaska resources without paying permit fees, access fees, lease payments, and royalties. Development happens on our terms and for Alaska’s benefit.

Infrastructure investment also improves quality of life. On the North Slope, revenues from oil development paid for health clinics, sanitation systems, emergency services, and schools. Life expectancy rose significantly. At Red Dog, local hire, workforce training, and village investment funds strengthened communities that were once isolated from the cash economy.

Environmental responsibility is not optional. Projects like Red Dog operate under dozens of permits and continuous monitoring. Subsistence and wildlife protections are built into law and enforced through the permitting process. Oversight works best when it is focused on measurable outcomes, not political obstruction. Alaska has shown that development and environmental stewardship can coexist.

The lesson is straightforward. Alaska grows when we invest wisely in infrastructure that unlocks our resources, requires repayment, respects Native ownership, and keeps decision making here at home. Roads, ports, and access corridors are not giveaways. They are tools. Used correctly, they pay for themselves and then some.

Public investment is not the opposite of free enterprise in Alaska. More often than not, it is the prerequisite for it. Investing in infrastructure is an investment in our children’s future. If we want a resilient economy, good jobs, and long-term revenue for public services and dividends, we must continue using the models that have worked, improve them where necessary, and resist the efforts of the purveyors of persistent no who would rather shut the door on Alaska’s future altogether

Originally published on Substack: https://kevinjmccabe.substack.com/p/investing-in-ourselves