Bethel, Alaska - Transportation and Economy

Transportation and Economy

The state-owned Bethel Airport is the regional transportation center, and is served by seven passenger carriers, including Alaska Airlines, Grant Aviation, Hageland Aviation Services, Yute Air and Frontier Flying Service. It also receives service from five cargo operators: Everts Air Cargo, Northern Air Cargo, Alaska Central Express, Arctic Transportation Services, and Lynden Air Cargo, and numerous small air taxi services including Renfro's Alaskan Adventures. The airport ranks third in the state for total number of flights. It offers a 6,400 foot asphalt runway and 1,850 foot gravel crosswind runway, and is currently undergoing a $7 million renovation and expansion. Three float plane bases are nearby: Hangar Lake, H Marker Lake, and the Kuskokwim River.

The Port of Bethel is the northernmost medium-draft port in the United States. River travel is the primary means of local transportation in the summer. A Bethel-based barge service provides goods to Kuskokwim villages.

Within Bethel there are approximately 16 miles (26 km) of roads which are not connected to any contiguous highway system. Winter ice roads lead to several local villages, but their condition varies depending on temperature and snow fall. An extensive network of snow machine trails connects Bethel to villages all over the Delta, from the Bering Sea to the Yukon.

The town's single paved road—about 10 miles—supports a surprisingly large taxicab industry. With 93 taxi drivers, the town has more cab drivers per capita than any other city in the country, making it the unlikely taxicab capital of the United States. Most local cab drivers are Albanian or South Korean immigrants lured north by reports of good money.

A relatively recent addition to the economy of Bethel is farming. Initiated by a small organic farm, Meyers Farm local food production in Bethel has been increasing. A winner of the Alaska Marketplace competition, the Meyers Farm has been providing organic produce for the local population of Bethel.

Bethel is also the site of a proposed major, relative to Alaska, coal powered power station, and a unique 8.5-mile (13.7 km) prototype single-wire earth return electrical intertie to Napakiak, Alaska, constructed in 1981.