As the state is struggling with declining budgets, as social services and teachers are being cut, the 32-mile rail extension between Point MacKenzie to Houston is well underway and rails are being laid on the track. The port is envisioned to serve hypothetical mines, a hypothetical natural gasline and a hypothetical cement plant in Fairbanks. According to the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, the work is over two-thirds funded and under construction. The Mat-Su borough has already received $171 million for the work, and but still needs $101.5 million to finish it. “The project includes six bridges and crosses enough trails that a $600,000 contract was awarded for just to work on trails,” the paper reports. The borough asked for $60 million in the next state budget. Parnell’s budget contains $5 million for the project.