The op-ed is right-on.  

For several years in Sitka, Ak-DOT has been planning a $16 million, 9-mile single lane gravel road to Katlian Bay. The project persists despite its original purpose and need - to access rock and gravel - being infeasible because a multi-span bridge would be needed. Instead, the plan now is to reroute the road to access a new trailhead for a trail the Forest Service would presumably  create. The road project has never stood on its own legs -- it is funded through a state ballot bond measure that included other projects.

Ak-DOT is nearly done with an appx. 500 page impact statement for the project, planned for July. However, Ak-DOT will not accept or consider public comments on the EIS. The whole process is a sham; appropriated dollars chasing a purpose, not planning based on reason or government of, by and for the people. 

The $14 million still left in the Katlian project pot should revert to the state budget or pay-down Sitka's hydropower project.